what's next for Roy Nelson

UFC 137 was do or die for both Cro Cop and Nelson with Nelson managing to cut some of his weight and earn the TKO. But now what? He has a real mountain to climb if he wants to challenge for the heavyweight title. Cain & JDS are at the top of the food chain, Brock has come back from illness and now Overeem has been added to the division; I really can't see Roy competing on that level! The biggest fights he could hope for at the moment would be against Kongo who beat Mitrione or Carwin when he returns. Even so I think he would have a hard time with both - Carwin would be a tough fight, especially as Carwin would have the added motivation of rescuing his career from losing two in a row. Now if Roy cuts weight and goes down to light heavyweight (no small feat) he faces the same problem - the top of the light heavyweight division is stacked! There's no way he'd get a sniff at the title and I really can't see him beating Jon Jones. Imo Nelson's Buddha belly gimmick has shot himself in the foot. In the end I think it has worked against him because he's not got the fitness to compete with the toughest guys, he also has a height and reach disadvantage against most of the guys in the heavyweight division, which will be exploited by the top calibre. So what next for Roy Nelson?

You say he hasnt got the cardio but when he was carrying that belly round and still able to go 3 rounds and stay on his feet, you could argue that his cardio was miles ahead of carwins who gassed.

Wether he makes it to the top of the pile or is happy being around the the top end of the card picking up pay days as people still see him as the over weight hillbilly when clearly he offers more than that.

he will be just fine and if he ever does get fights agaisnt a brock or overeem or the others i'm sure he will take it, massive pay day regardless of outcome and remember there is always the possibility of one punch and a nerw champion is crowned.

I think he should cut to LHW, he just as unlikely to beat Jones as he is JDS, Cain, Overeem etc so might as well have his last few years within a more natural division for him.

I heard all this talk about Nelson losing weight and was excited albeit a bit apprehensive. He only weighed 7ibs less than his last fight which I wouldn't even call a weight cut!

If he stays at heavy which I think he will, a fight against Kongo would be good for both, with a win possibly setting up a contender fight for the title.

I can't imagine Roy at LHW. I personally think he'd struggle with the extra pace and conditioning of the fighters.

I'd like to see Nelson against Carwin. Think Carwin would win but itd be competitive.

Valero's Conscience wrote:I think he should cut to LHW, he just as unlikely to beat Jones as he is JDS, Cain, Overeem etc so might as well have his last few years within a more natural division for him.

I heard all this talk about Nelson losing weight and was excited albeit a bit apprehensive. He only weighed 7ibs less than his last fight which I wouldn't even call a weight cut!

If he stays at heavy which I think he will, a fight against Kongo would be good for both, with a win possibly setting up a contender fight for the title.

Nelson was that fat he had to dehydrate himself to make 265.

I think that fact he weighed 7 pounds less probably amounts to a good stone and a half in real money.

I never realised he previously cut to make 265!

That is better then as like you say probably amounts to 1-5-2 stone!

He'll need to lose a lot more and see how this affects him at HW, if he's too undersized then he should try LHW IMO.

He's not that young so maybe worth trying something different.

boomdangle wrote:You say he hasnt got the cardio but when he was carrying that belly round and still able to go 3 rounds and stay on his feet, you could argue that his cardio was miles ahead of carwins who gassed.

Wether he makes it to the top of the pile or is happy being around the the top end of the card picking up pay days as people still see him as the over weight hillbilly when clearly he offers more than that.

he will be just fine and if he ever does get fights agaisnt a brock or overeem or the others i'm sure he will take it, massive pay day regardless of outcome and remember there is always the possibility of one punch and a nerw champion is crowned.

Roy's cardio might be good for a guy his 'size' and yes Carwin's cardio is very questionable. However, his weight is more fat than muscle (unless he's gone for the Sumo approach), which will hold him back - and has proven to be the case against better fighters. Roy has possibly the best chin in the UFC, which is what kept him from getting KO'd by JDS and Mir. Roy has a lot to offer - he has the tools to be a really good prospect I'm not doubting his talent, just his conditioning, which I believe is important when you're a professional athlete fighting in arguably the world's most elite MMA promotion.

I didn’t think Roy cut to get to 265? But I don’t know for sure. That being said he was wearing a fat suite when he stepped on the scales at weigh in and left his shoes on etc... So those 7lbs less he weighed then he did against Mir, plus the weight cut he does to get to 265(?) normally, plus the weight of his fat suite and clothes etc and that 7lbs could be as much as 30 - 35 lbs of actual loss.

In that Cro Cop fight you could tell he had lost a significant amount of that belly so 35lbs isn’t out the reams of possibility.

As for what’s next for Nelson? He will probably want a fight before the Strikeforce lot get absorbed in the UFC mould so I would put him against someone like Travis Browne, I think that would be a good fight

Apparently there is a good chance Strikeforce will continue to exist so I don't think the roster will join UFC. I actually think some UFC guys may start going over to Strikeforce.

easthfc wrote:Apparently there is a good chance Strikeforce will continue to exist so I don't think the roster will join UFC. I actually think some UFC guys may start going over to Strikeforce.

Gilbert Melendez has already been scouted by the UFC to come over to their light weight division so that’s their 155lbs champ gone, Nick Diaz has already vacated the 170lbs belt, Dan Henderson has already vacated the 205lbs belt and Alistair Overeem has already vacated the 265lbs belt, that leaves just Luke Rockhold who has just won the 185lbs belt and the two female champs in Misha Tate and Cristiane Santos as their current champs.

Strikeforce is a joke at the moment and with Bellator moving over to Spike once the UFC deal / back catalogue deal has finished with spike some time in 2012 I believe where will that leave Strikeforce? I know Dana has said that the future of Strikeforce is their own hands and that Zuffer have no plans in dissolving Strikefoce but I just don’t believe them, that is exactly what they have said every other time when they have bought out competition and look what happened to them (Pride, WEC) all dissolved and the best fighters absorbed into the UFC.
I still believe this is exactly what will happen with Strikeforce, but the noise coming out of Zuffer will be that it's "business as normal" until Strikeforce is dissolved and the best fighters absorbed.

Personally I like the idea of keeping strikeforce as a "lower tier" if you will of MMA with new guys being tested their before they move over to the big leagues and older legends moving to Strikeforce once they can’t compete at the top level, I just don’t really see it happening.

I haven't seen The Nelson/Cro Cop fight but from what has been said about his weigh-in etc it looks like he is seriously getting his weight down which i never thought he would.

As for UFC and Strikeforce I think they'll co-exist like a Premier League and Championship division i.e. you do well in Strikfroce and you're in the UFC and if bad then cut completely and if you're in the UFC and you do bad they give you a shot a redemption in Strikeforce.

I think Strickeforce will remain or least the UFC want them to stay possibly purely as a 'feeder league' but with their champs moving over the quality and in-turn interest will drop.

Valero's Conscience wrote:I haven't seen The Nelson/Cro Cop fight but from what has been said about his weigh-in etc it looks like he is seriously getting his weight down which i never thought he would.

As for UFC and Strikeforce I think they'll co-exist like a Premier League and Championship division i.e. you do well in Strikfroce and you're in the UFC and if bad then cut completely and if you're in the UFC and you do bad they give you a shot a redemption in Strikeforce.

I think Strickeforce will remain or least the UFC want them to stay possibly purely as a 'feeder league' but with their champs moving over the quality and in-turn interest will drop.

I like the idea of a feeder league and hope that is how it turns out, but I strongly suspect that in 12 months time there will be no more Strikeforce. No more Pride :-( No more WEC :-( and soon no more Strikeforce :-(

The top guys will go to UFC in the end but most of the roster will remain.

Dana had a meeting with showtime recently which went well and he pretty much confirmed in an interview that Strikeforce will continue, leaving Scott Coker as promoter.

I'm sure there's more to it we'll hear about in the next few months though.