Nelson Plans to ‘Get Through’ Struve’s Reach

Hundreds of fighters have passed through the Octagon on “The Ultimate Fighter” over its first 11 seasons, but few have had more experience going in than Roy Nelson. Still, it wasn’t a smooth ride for Nelson, a former IFL heavyweight champion, who seemed to rub UFC President Dana White the wrong way from the get-go.

Nelson wasn’t your cookie-cutter competitor. He lacked the chiseled physique of most of his peers and was portrayed as having a slight chip on his shoulder. Nelson was surprised to be picked ninth during team selections but shocked no one by winning it all in the end. He fights the first bout on the multi-fight contract he won with the promotion when he meets 6-foot-11 Dutchman Stefan Struve at UFC Fight Night 21 at the Bojangles Coliseum in Charlotte, N.C., a prelude to the TUF 11 season debut later that evening on Spike TV.

Training for Struve, whose height has been an asset in throwing off previous opponents, hasn’t been of the traditional variety, said Nelson.

“The latest thing that I've been doing is just going to the basketball court and picking fights,” Nelson told the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show on Wednesday. “That's really about it. For the most part, it's just one of those things. You just have to get through his reach and then hopefully you can do some damage. If you can get to the floor you can get to the floor but if you can keep it standing and just get past the reach, I've done it with Brad Imes before so I think I'll be ok.”

Nelson, who lives and trains in Las Vegas, believes a win over Struve -- who earned a majority decision over Paul Buentello at UFC 107 in December -- will go a long way for him.

“I think Stefan's right in the mix,” said Nelson. “The only person that's ever beaten him is Dos Santos. He's coming off three straight wins. His only loss was to Dos Santos, who I think is No. 5 or 6 in your rankings. Stefan's right in the mix. I think the only people that are above him are maybe (Brock) Lesnar, (Shane) Carwin and Frank (Mir)… So if I can get past Stefan it definitely puts us one step higher. If he beats me then he's one step higher in the mix and if I beat him then they'll maybe throw my name around.”

Nelson likes to throw around his opinions. One of the more pointed ones included his belief that Brock Lesnar should have been stripped of his title when he fell ill and couldn’t defend his title last winter.

“If someone's going to be sick or can't fight or whatever, UFC stripped many a fighter before,” said Nelson. “B.J. (Penn), when he went to K-1 and he still had the belt, and Frank Mir when he had his injury. It's just one of those things if you're going to be out for longer than a year then you've got to get stripped. But right now, Lesnar's fighting right on that fine line. It's not quite a year, but if it was any longer then he'd definitely have to get stripped just for the pure fact that it's kind of one of those title things.”

Still, Nelson complimented the promotion for keeping things moving with the introduction of an interim title, which Carwin won with a first-round TKO of Mir at UFC 111 last Saturday in Newark, N.J. Likewise, Nelson said his fight with Struve would be for the “European championship.”

As for his rocky relationship with White, Nelson didn’t exactly raise hopes for some type of reconciliation during Wednesday’s live broadcast.

“Dana sells tickets. On the other end, I sell tickets too,” said Nelson. “It really doesn't matter as long as I'm doing my job and he's doing his. That's kind of how I look at it. Dana's going to be Dana and I'm going to be Roy Nelson, which as long as the fans love me I know I'll always have a job which is really kind of what it boils down to and plus as long as I'm winning, everybody always loves a winner.”

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