Roy Nelson Reflects on Move to Bellator MMA, Tournament & Title Aspirations

Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight contender and current Bellator MMA slugger Roy Nelson was a guest on the “MMA Hour” recently to talk about his fight this weekend as well as outlining his plans for the future.

Nelson is scheduled to take on another former UFC heavyweight in Matt Mitrione at Bellator 194 in the quarterfinals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix with the winner of the tournament to be awarded the championship belt.

Nelson is looking at capturing gold in the tournament after several unsuccessful near misses in the UFC. He was quizzed about potential retirement and what would happen if he was successful in capturing the Bellator title:

“At least one or two defenses, so at least a year and a half. At least 18 months,” Nelson told Ariel Helwani. When pressed further he said: “I’ll give you two [years].”

Nelson reminisced on his career as a fighter and when he debuted 15 years ago in the sport at a one-night tournament on a Native American reservation. Now, he’s happily married and has a son and recalled when life outside of fighting was simpler and worry free.

“If anything, I wish I could go get that same mentality that I had then that I should have now,” Nelson said. “The younger you are, the easier it is to fight because you don’t have a care in the world… When it’s just you, you’re like, ‘dude, I can sleep in a gutter. I can do this, I can do that, I can suffer through.’

“But life goes on, you start building your family and everything else up, then you start thinking about all the other stuff that they could take away or what you can’t get, so it’s easier when you’re younger.”

Nelson signed with Bellator in May 2017 after competing 19 times inside the Octagon. He took on Javy Ayala in his first fight and came out on top via unanimous decision in September last year.

It seems Nelson is enjoying life much more now after departing the UFC and spoke about the WME-IMG’s purchase of the UFC as a major reason why he decided it was the right time to part ways.

“When you’re already one foot out the door because there’s no pleasing them, there’s no ‘thank you’, there’s no appreciation,” Nelson said. “I think that was just with the new management, I think (they) came in and I don’t think they know how -- that’s why the UFC’s kind of going the opposite with the new management type of thing versus getting the fans back involved.”

“You can definitely sense the difference,” Nelson continued. “The morale is different, the employees are different. Before, back in the day, you remember when employees would talk, like, ‘Let’s talk about fighting!’

“Now it’s just like, ‘Oh, there’s a fight next week.’

‘Where is it at?’

‘I don’t know.’

‘Who’s on it?’

‘I don’t know.’”

Bellator 194: Mitrione vs. Nelson 2 goes down Friday at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.