On Tuesday, the Iceland native revealed via Instagram that an “ankle twist” ultimately forced him to withdraw from his main event clash against Dong Hyun Kim. According to Nelson, the injury occurred during an open workout at approximately the 1:08 mark of the video below:
“Right away I wasn’t sure how serious it was so I kept face and rolled a little on but told my training partner Kenny Baker about it…..He knew all about it because he said he felt the massive click when it happened,” Nelson wrote. “I was forced to stop within minutes because I [realized] it was bad.”
Nelson initially hoped he might still be able to compete but decided against it when he was unable to resume MMA training after a few weeks. As a result of the injury, a rematch between Gegard Mousasi and Uriah Hall was booked as the event’s new headliner.
UFC Fight Night takes place on Nov. 19 in Belfast at the SSE Arena and streams in its entirety on UFC Fight Pass. Nelson last competed at UFC Fight Night “Overeem vs. Arlovski,” where he submitted Albert Tumenov with a neck crank 3:15 into the second round.