UFC welterweight Gunnar Nelson is the yang to Conor McGregor’s yin when it comes to trash-talk, so the training partners sound a lot different in the buildup to their fights.
Nelson (14-1-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC), the No. 15 fighter in the NOS Energy Drink MMA welterweight rankings, recently gave his version of a diss when assessing his fight against No. 10 Demian Maia (21-6 MMA, 15-6 UFC) on Saturday at UFC 194. The fight is part of the pay-per-view main card at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas.
Explaining why he jumped at another opportunity to face submission artist Maia – the fight originally was scheduled for October at UFC Fight Night 76 – Nelson calmly stated his case.
“I never like to call out anyone – it’s not my style,” he said. “I don’t like to pick my fights. I just like to fight because I’m going to fight all these guys.
“In this case, it was getting to a point where I was thinking everybody wants to see this fight, including me. I like this fight. I like many fights, but he’s, I think, on his way out. He’s getting older, so I thought this would be the perfect timing, so I just started mentioning it.”
Not exactly the shots recently fired from his fellow welterweight Dong Hyun Kim, who flatly said Maia “would be the easiest to beat” among the division’s top 10. But Nelson didn’t take that bait, either.
“Maybe (Kim) is trying to call him out for his next fight, or maybe he’s trying to call me out after this fight, but I don’t think so,” Nelson said. “I don’t think Maia is the easiest fight. He’s a very dangerous fighter, and to a lot of guys, they all know that. Going against Maia is very dangerous, and if you don’t have the skill set to keep him off you, then you’re going to lose.”
Enough said from Nelson, who does the bulk of his talking in the cage.
Check out the video above for more from the Icelandic fighter ahead of UFC 194.
And for more on UFC 194, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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