It can be easy to forget that mixed martial arts is a business and some times the road to the biggest stage can be a tough path to travel. In the current climate of the sport a fighter can be withheld the respect they deserve until they are displaying their craft under the glaring lights of the UFC. Former IFL heavyweight champion Roy Nelson has long been regarded as a solid fighter with well rounded skills and would certainly pose a difficult matchup for anyone who he may face but it took Nelson working through the rungs and eventually winning The Ultimate Fighter for the UFC fan base to fall in love with “Big Country”. Throughout the show’s taping UFC President Dana White appeared to be Nelson’s biggest critic despite Roy steamrolling every opponent he faced inside the octagon. An unconventional approach and a light hearted sense of humor have made Nelson a fan favorite but it is his skills as a heavyweight fighter that have separated him from the pack. Going into show’s finale many sat on the fence about how Nelson would fare but he made a booming statement as he crushed fellow finalist Brendan Schaub in the first round of their fight. Up next for Nelson was the Norwegian skyscraper Stephan Struve and after a few seconds of posturing Nelson waded in and dropped all 6 ft 7 inches of Struve to the canvas. After posting his second win in impressive fashion everyone, White included, began to take a different look at Roy Nelson. When the call came for “Big Country” to face the dangerous power of Brazilian Junior Dos Santos at UFC 117, Nelson could not wait to test himself against one of the top heavyweights in the world. Shortly into the first round Roy felt the full impact of “Cigao’s” power and after finding himself in trouble early in the fight Nelson dug down deep and weathered the storm. Nelson battled back as he gave a blood and guts performance standing and trading with Dos Santos at every turn. When the judge’s cards were read Dos Santos had moved up to become the number one contender but Roy Nelson immediately earned the respect of the MMA community by doing what no one had ever done before him…taking Dos Santos the distance. Seemingly overnight the world of MMA embraced Nelson for his grit and determination and while the loss certainly stung, it became apparent that there was still room for Nelson in the elite tier of the division. Shortly after the fight Nelson went under the knife for knee surgery and while he recovered, word began to travel that another top ranked heavyweight had their eyes on “Big Country.” Last week it was officially announced that Roy Nelson will be facing Shane Carwin at UFC 125 on Jan 1st and in his first interview since the announcement Nelson spoke to BJPenn.com. In this BJPenn.com Exclusive “Big Country” talks about surviving Dos Santos, how he matches up with Shane Carwin and the recent debate concerning Strikeforce vs. UFC heavyweights. When asked how he was feeling after the surgery he joked…

“It’s still there. I’m still able to work on it so it’s not a problem. It is what it is.”

Both Carwin and Nelson are coming off of losses and shortly after Carwin was defeated by current champion Brock Lesnar he began picking another fight. Nelson and Carwin both had critiques of one another and after slugging it out with Junior Dos Santos for three rounds the UFC will now match him up against the extremely powerful and always dangerous Shand Carwin. When asked why he wanted to fight Carwin he replied…

“It’s not really about wanting fight Shane Carwin because it isn’t up to me. It’s whoever the UFC puts in front of you. The way I look at it is that he put a good beating on Brock and Brock is the number one guy so I’m assuming that if things had gone a bit different or if it had been a different referee in there then Shane would be the number one guy right now. I think Dos Santos is still the top guy out of everybody that I have faced and the heavyweight division is so stacked that if you look at Shane, Cain Velasquez…pretty much any of them guys could put you one win away from the title.”

Prior to facing Lesnar at UFC 116 Carwin had never been out of the first round and shortly after their fight began Carwin looked well on his way to another first round stoppage. Carwin rocked the giant with a powerful shot causing Lesnar’s legs to buckle and when Carwin took top position the fight appeared to be just moments away from being stopped. The referee Josh Rosenthal hovered close but each time Lesnar would kick out and show signs that he was still in the fight. As the round came to a close Lesnar rose bloodied and beaten while Carwin seemed to be exhausted. Shortly into the second round Lesnar took Carwin down and submitted him with an arm triangle and no sooner did the fight end was the criticism flying around Carwin’s conditioning. When asked where he felt that his strengths are in the matchup with Carwin at UFC 125 Nelson responded…

“I would say cardio is my biggest advantage. Matchup wise I think it’s tough because he hits hard, I hit hard. Wrestling wise we probably negate each other out as well. I think I have better jiu-jitsu so it’s a very interesting matchup. He has a better supplement routine than I do but there are a lot of different things that he’s better at and there are those that I am better out so we’ll see.”

While the MMA community targeted Carwin’s second round dump it was the polar opposite for Nelson in the aftermath of his bout with Junior Dos Santos. For three rounds Nelson stood toe to toe with one of the most feared strikers in the division and his efforts were applauded by the MMA fanbase. When asked to share his opinion on why the post-fight reactions differed from his fight and Carwin’s fight Nelson stated…

“I think people just appreciate a good show. They see that you are the type of person that is going to give 150% and lay it all out there from start to finish. I’m going to head hold my head high win or lose.”

Before facing Roy Nelson “Cigano” was considered to have lights out power but after he failed to put “Big Country” away, Dos Santos also found himself receiving some unexpected critique of his punching power and ability to finish. When I shared this information with Nelson he laughed and said

“I would definitely say JDS has the put out power. I think anybody that stands with him for more than 90 seconds if they don’t get him down to the floor would definitely get knocked out.”

The fight with Junior Dos Santos at UFC 117 was determined to be a contender eliminator’s bout and at UFC 125 Nelson will face Shane Carwin who is coming off of losing his chance to become the undisputed heavyweight champion of the UFC heavyweight division. When asked if he felt a win over Carwin would cement him as the number one contender for the crown he replied…

“This fight is pretty much like a number one contender status bout. When I fought Dos Santos the winner got to fight for the title and I imagine this one will more than likely be the same. Carwin was one of the UFC heavyweight champs and he just lost to Brock who is the current heavyweight champion. If he beats me he’s probably right back up there fighting for the title again and with me I’ll most likely be right there too. Maybe I’d fight Nogueira afterwards but I really don’t know because there are a lot of different ways to go about this. My whole thing is just to fight the best in the world and put a roof over my head.”

With the topic of the UFC heavyweight title on the table I asked Nelson to share his insight and prediction on next week’s collision between Brock Lesnar and Cain Velasquez at UFC 121.

“That one is tough and I couldn’t really tell you right now. Velasquez is definitely not a quitter and he’s an engine that just keeps coming and coming but I don’t know if that will be enough just off of heart alone. We’ve seen that Lesnar has the heart of a champion and even if he gets in a tight spot he is still going to keep coming. Those are the things that make the difference between fighters because it’s not how many times you fall it’s how many times you get back up. It’s going to be a very interesting matchup for sure. I think Lesnar is a bit bigger and may be able to use his size to bully Cain around but he will have to do that for five rounds so I really don’t know. It is really one of those flip a coin types of matchups.”

It has been no secret that the UFC heavyweight division has experienced drastic changes over the past few years. Where it was once considered to be the weakest link in the organization’s chain it now boasts an upper tier of fighters who are poised to potentially put on some greatest fights the weight class has ever seen. The sea change occurred when Brock Lesnar lead a new breed of fighter to the top of the division and suddenly former champions and MMA legends like Frank Mir and Antonio “Big Nog” Nogueira have found themselves battling to remain relevant in a weight class that is only becoming bigger, faster and stronger. When asked if the afore mentioned fighters were in jeopardy of forever losing their ability to return to the top Nelson responded modestly as he said…

“Actually I would say no to guys like Frank Mir and Nogueira fighting for relevance just based off the fact that they are still ranked in the top 10 in the world. I’m just a feeder fish because I’m not considered to be all that good I guess.”

A recent quote by newly signed Strikeforce heavyweight Josh Barnett in addition to MMA legend Bas Ruten ranking a Strikeforce heavyweight at the top of the charts has ignited a debate concerning the current batch of Strikeforce heavyweights against the UFC’s impressive line up. When asked to add his opinion into the ongoing debate Nelson stated…

“I think they have a good batch of heavyweights in Strikeforce. Affliction pretty much had all the top heavyweights before because they were going out and paying everybody. That is why all the heavyweights were going over there. Then when Affliction shut down and disbanded all of the heavyweights either went to the UFC or Strikeforce. They have Fedor and he’s still the guy to beat. He might not be the same Fedor that he was back in 2005 when he was winning fights against Cro Cop and Nogueira but he’s still Fedor. They have Overeem who has definitely proven himself lately compared to five years ago because back then Chuck Liddell was beating him. It’s a different Overeem entirely and this fight game changes from year to year. I think they have a good set of heavyweights now but the ones they were running with before like Brett Rogers weren’t all that impressive. Josh Barnett has always proven himself to be one of the top guys but at the same time I think there is a lot of guys in the UFC that would beat him up. But overall as a group they have Overeem, Fedor, Werdum and Josh and those are the kind of guys that as a fighter you would want to challenge yourself against.”

Upon giving his answer the focus then turned away from the degree of heavyweight talent held by each organization but how the organization themselves were run. Nelson expanded on his previous statement as he continued…

“MMA is not like boxing where you have cushy, cushy, cushy, tough fight then go back to cushy, cushy, cushy again. It does happen in the UFC too though because I have seen guys take cushy, cushy, cushy, then a hard fight and then go back to cushy, cushy, cushy again. At the same time I have seen guys who only face the toughest fighters out there and will fight anyone at any time. Chuck Liddell was one of those guys. Keith Jardine was one of those guys. If you put on a show you can certainly get beat but at the end of the night it’s what the fans want. They are the ones that pay the bills. Take a look at Wanderlei Silva. He can go out and win one lose one and he will still have a job. Or guys like Stephan Bonnar and Forrest Griffin…there are a bunch of fighters you could name that fall into the win one lose one pattern and don’t have to be a complete stud to do really well in this business.”

With the interview coming to a close Nelson took one final moment to let the readers of BJPenn.com and MMA fans in general know where you can go to get the latest news on Roy “Big Country” Nelson.

“Make sure you go to www.roynelson.com and follow me on twitter @roynelsonmma. I also just want to thank everybody that goes out and watches MMA because it truly is all about the fans.”

By Duane Finley