After Collapsing "Skyscraper" Struve, Where Does UFC's Roy Nelson Go Next?
By: Fighters.com Staff Posted On: April 1, 2010 at 3:47pm
At UFC’s Ultimate Fight Night 21 in Charlotte Wednesday night The Ultimate Fighter 10 champion “Big Country” Roy Nelson(15-4) knocked out 6’11″ heavyweight prospect “Skyscraper” Stefan Struve (23-4) in 39 seconds, an impressive win for a “fat guy” with a nearly one-foot height disadvantage.
I noted to a friend recently that an MMA Junkie article listing the UFC’s top heavyweight talent included, of course, UFC champion and Fighters.com’s second-ranked heavyweight Brock Lesnar (4-1), his title challenger Shane Carwin (10-0), next in line Cain Velasquez(9-0), ”Cigano” Junior dos Santos (10-1), recently defeated former UFC champion Frank Mir(13-4), and former PRIDE and interim UFC champion “Minotauro” Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira(32-6-1). The article also threw Struve and Cheick Kongo(14-6-1) into the mix at the top of the UFC’s heavyweight division…but no Nelson. My point to my friend was that I wouldn’t mind leaving Nelson out of a discussion of the UFC’s top heavyweights, but if you’re going to throw in Struve and Kongo, you have to include Nelson.
Struve and Kongo benefit from the same inclination to overhype. They’re both physically imposing. Kongo looks like he was chiseled from a 6’4″ chunk of obsidian and Struve stands literally head-and-shoulders above the Octagon cage. But, with his mullet and soft belly, Nelson fights like Struve and Kongo look like they should fight.
Nelson is good! But, Nelson’s record indicates his ceiling. He’s been knocked out by former UFC heavyweight champion “Pitbull” Andrei Arlovski (15-7) and lost decisions to former UFC title challenger “Snowman” Jeff Monson (33-9) and former IFL champ “Big” Ben Rothwell(20-7). There’s a clear delineation between the level of talent Nelson has beat and the level of talent that beats Nelson.
The UFC’s heavyweight division is more interesting now than it has been in years. Lesnar is the undisputed champion, but still only has a five-fight record that includes a loss. Is he legitimately dominant, or just yet to be figured out? Well…figured out again. Carwin’s KO of Mir earned him the clear top contender spot, but Velasquez’s KO of Big Nog’ puts him just a notch beneath. That latter knockout also clears the way for Fighters.com’s favorite in the division, dos Santos, who is trained by Nogueira. Then there’s the old guard of Mir and Nogueira.
Any one of those fighters represents a step up to the level at which Nelson has consistently lost. There are some interesting matchups in the middle of the division, over which Nelson now seems to reign. So, where does Nelson go from here?
He could await the winners in the UFC 115 matchups between “Cro Cop” Mirko Filipovic (26-8-2) and “HD” Pat Barry (3-2) and “Big” Ben Rothwell (29-5) and “Hurricane” Gilbert Yvel(33-13-1). In fact, if Rothwell beats Yvel, a Nelson-Rothwell rematch could clearly define how far both fighters have come or what either has lost since their original matchup in April 2007 when Rothwell won by split decision.
Or, Nelson could take on one of the old guard – either Mir or Nogueira – and try to sap from them any of their remaining cache. Wins over Mir and Nogueira have propelled Carwin and Velasquez to the top of the division, and a win for Nelson over either would push him not far behind.
Or, Nelson could take on either of the top contenders – Velasquez or dos Santos – and try to replace them in line for a title shot.
One fight Fighters.com would loath to see is a matchup between Nelson and Kongo. I’m so bored with the UFC trying to pass-off Kongo as anything more than a physically imposing, middle-tier heavyweight. If you want to argue with me, first Google Kongo’s record. It tells the story. And, the fact is, Nelson would beat Kongo handily.
Fighters.com’s preference would be for the Rothwell-Nelson rematch to determine whether Nelson has truly improved his game or he’s benefiting from generous matchups in the UFC. If Nelson could beat Rothwell, he’d have proven he could step-up to the next level of competition. However, Rothwell has to beat Yvel first and Nelson would have to want to wait until August to fight again.
Where do you think Nelson should go after his impressive knockout of Struve?
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Comments
Roy Nelson would get destroyed by Gabriel Gonzaga, who was not mentioned up top.. haha
Right, because Gonzaga has looked so good in his recent fights. I primarily didn’t mention Gonzaga because the UFC rarely matches a guy like Gonzaga versus a guy coming off a win when Gonzaga is coming off a loss. It’s usually two guys who won their previous fights or two guys who lost their previous fights, unless it’s just a marquee matchup, like something with Couture, Franklin, Ortiz, Liddell, big name guys like that. They could do a Nelson-Gonzaga matchup. I think that’s legit, but I think Nelson beats Gonzaga right now. Actually, I think Struve-Gonzaga is the better matchup there.
While I completely agree Nelson has a ceiling I think he easily trumps Frank Mir, who has no defensive guard standing or on the ground and has been previously beaten by Nelson in grappling competition prior to Nelson’s rise as an MMA fighter. Also, if you mention the Nelson loss to Rothwell it should be noted Rothwell was deducted a point for repeatedly grabbing the ropes and was given an extremely biased home town decision in Iowa.
you also forgot to mention author, how pathetic the arlovski fight was, roy had him pinned on the ground and the shitty Elite XC ref made them stand up, so arlovski and rothwell loses shouldnt even be counted here. roy is alot better than you think, i could see him beating mir for sure.
And Arlovski has said the referee in his KO loss to Brett Rogers stopped the fight too early and on and on. I can’t do every “if” and “but” every fighter has about every one of their losses. Nelson’s record shows losses to Arlovski and Rothwell. That’s official. But, the question isn’t about who Nelson has fought, but who should he fight next? Seems like there is some momentum behind a Mir-Nelson matchup.
Struve-Gonzaga would be a quick fight, Gonzaga being considerably better.
As for Nelson defeating Mir, that’s just something that will not happen, irrespective of any arm-wrestling or whatever they did in the 90s. (Nick-think about what you said. And hang your head.)
Gonzaga-Nelson is the fight I’d like to see – I’m maybe slightly leaning towards a GG victory, but certainly a tougher call than any of those previously discussed.
The loss to Rothwell was very close, when watched it on IFL, I thought it could go either way and it was split. The loss to Monson was also questionable. These losses were close decisions where Nelson was not in trouble at all. As for him fighting Mir or Gonzaga, we would have to see you never know with this guy.
To me it makes sense for Big Roy to fight Rothwell next. The fight with Rothwell was close and smacks of unfinished biz for Roy. Roy needs more fights (wins) to build a bigger following and bigger name. If he can take Rothwell in the cage it goes a long way in doing that. Rothwell (imho) would need this fight to get him back on the path to getting in the mix. If he can look good against Roy he pulls some of that attention Roy is getting to himself. Are there other fights that Roy would want more? Sure, but for the UFC and Roy equally Rothwell makes the most sense.
Listen its all politics, Nelson can beat any heavyweight right now, but dana does not want that, Dana is still made nelson beat kimbo. Dana wanted kimbo to wil the UF so bad. Not because kimbo is good, its because kimbo draws well. UFC is just like wwe, the only diffrence is wwe are pretending to punch in the face. Does UFC Fix fights? Ofcourse they do just look at the houston vs kimbo fight. Houston could of knocked kimbo out but backed up cause he got paid.
Listen people if a guy like Kurt Angle was in The UFC he would destroy everybody.
Hopefully he will be in there soon, I think its looking that way UFC will be a side show soon.
(If you want me to write for you and actually get readers, contact me)
dana is still mad, not made sorry for a bunch of errors, My kid kept hitting the keyboard
why does everyone make such a big deal about his weight ?
Is this martial arts ? or a beauty contest .
remember tank abbott ? or emmanuel yarbrough ?!
I’d like to see Roy go up against Mir or Gonzaga next. If he wins then he should take on Dos Santos, Valasquez and if he loses Kongo, Nog, or Rothwell instead. I think the ideal path for Roy with the best, most interesting fights would be Gonzaga > Dos Santos > Lesnar / Valasquez and finally Carwin (who’s going to beat Lesnar and be the champ by then). I wouldn’t be very interested in a fight against Mir because I’m pretty sure Roy would win. Gonzaga would be much more interesting, if Roy can beat him he’d have to be considered a contender. As for Nog, a few years ago he’d have been a great matchup but Nog is past his prime and on the way down now, beating him now wouldn’t prove anything.
Unfortunately Dana White doesn’t like Roy Nelson and will likely to put him up against Kongo, Nog, or Rothwell next or just throw him in right in vs a top contender.