Roy Nelson will fight Daniel Cormier for immediate LHW title shot

Quote :

While Daniel Cormier thinks a bout against Roy Nelson would be a "damn good fight," "Big Country" doesn't seem too keen on fighting the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner.

Unless, of course, it is a meaningful mixed martial arts (MMA) match.

Indeed, Nelson is coming off a first round knockout victory over Cheick Kongo at UFC 159 last weekend (April 27, 2013), giving him his third consecutive Heavyweight victory inside the Octagon. Cormier, meanwhile, made a successful transition from Strikeforce to Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), besting Frank Mir at UFC on Fox 7 one week earlier.

On the surface, it would appear to be a an ideal match up; however, Cormier is still undecided about his future in the division because his good friend and long-time training partner, Cain Velasquez, is the reigning division champion. And he has hinted that a drop to 205 pounds would be possible if "Brown Pride" retains his title against Antonio Silva in their rematch at UFC 160 later this month.

For now, Cormier is non-committal about his Heavyweight future, playing the waiting game and claiming that he is interested in "big fights."

That's the primary reason Nelson's manager, Mike Kogan, recently revealed that a showdown with Cormier "doesn't make sense," a sentiment that The Ultimate Fighter (TUF) 10 winner Nelson echoed to Bloody Elbow. Nelson revealed that he would be more interested in a fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira next rather than Cormier.

Unless, of course, a scrap with Cormier earner him the No. 1 Light Heavyweight contender spot.

His words:

"You know, I think in our sport, there's a couple guys that get to fight everybody like three or four times, and I'm one of those guys, I guess, that get's to fight everybody once. Like, I've been trying to fight Big Nog since after the Junior dos Santos fight, and that was two years ago. I'm all about the big fights. That's why I think a fight with Big Nog would be great. As far Daniel (Cormier), I think the reason Mike, my manger, said anything about Daniel, is because he's supposed be getting an immediate title shot at 205. If he's going down to 205, it doesn't really make any sense to fight him, unless we're going to fight for a 205 contendership. Then hey, we can do that, too."

It's unclear if the portly Nelson -- who not too long ago teased a drop to 205 pounds if he could get 100,000 "Likes" on Facebook.com (he did) -- was actually being serious. But, it would make sense from his perspective, considering Cormier has already locked up an immediate title shot should he make the cut.

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Not sure what I think about that.
They are going to fight at HW for the #1 contender spot at LHW?

I would hope at 205 or it makes no sense. Because all I can see now is them fighting at like 220 "catch weight" which we all know is just HW. Only to follow up with the winner not making 205 for the title fight....
You gotta have that one before the title fight at the title weight. IMO

yeah, i took that it was a fight at 205 for the 205 #1 contender spot, not a hw fight for 205 contender sopt....actually i am really interested to see if roy can make 205 and if he does how it impacts his power\speed.......great potential for him to be a beast at 205, not sure he could take jones but im sure he could stir the division up a bit.

I don't see Roy being any threat whatsoever at 205. I think he relies too much on his power, and see the speed difference at 205 to be way too much for him to handle.

I took this as more of a rhetorical response from Nelson on the idea of fighting Cormier at all. Sounds to me like he's basicly saying "why would I fight Cormier when he's the only one who has anything to gain from it?". I don't think he really intends to fight at 205 (for the title or otherwise), he's just pointing out that Cormier has an incentive here, and Roy himself does not.

If that's really Roy's reasoning, it is pretty damn stupid.
So, is he saying he will not fight anyone unless he is gauranteed a title fight?
Or... at least anyone good.

Well I shouldn't have said he has "nothing" to gain from fighting Cormier. That's not true. But it seems like he feels he is getting the short end of the stick, and isn't interested in being someone's stepping stool unless there's something in it for him.

i think if he were to drop to 205 we would see some of his jitz rather than trying to ko fools and as far as speed goes, i dont see him gaining too much.