Gunnar Nelson explains why he hasn’t fought in two years ahead of return at UFC London

Gunnar Nelson will be ending a two-year-long layoff when he takes on Kevin Holland on the main card of UFC London on Saturday.

Nelson hasn’t fought since UFC 286 in March of 2023 when he submitted Bryan Barberena in the first round. Despite getting a quick finish, Nelson has another long layoff as he says he was just focused on other things and not MMA, as he also says he was healthy.

“I’ve just been concentrating on other things,” Nelson said to Ariel Helwani. “I’ve been coaching quite a bit, focusing on the team and not as much myself… Not really, you always have something you have been fighting for many, many years, so there is always something but nothing serious. Just focus on other things like coaching and stuff.”

Although the focus wasn’t on fighting, Gunnar Nelson says he did want to return much sooner. Instead, he says the UFC wanted him to return at UFC London.

“You tell them when you are ready and I actually was looking to fight earlier than this. I couldn’t get matched up for December and they mentioned London and they usually want me here, so here I am,” Nelson added.

Gunnar Nelson plans to exploit Kevin Holland at UFC London

When Gunnar Nelson does make the walk to the Octagon at UFC London, he will be taking on Kevin Holland in an intriguing welterweight matchup.

Heading into the fight, Nelson has confidence he will be able to exploit Holland to get another win.

“He’s is creative. He does everything, he’s dangerous everywhere, he knows his way around the ground as well, he’s good, he’s fun, he’s exciting… I’ll try to exploit everything I can, but, definitely, you have watched my fights, it’s no secret what I try to do in my fights,” Nelson added.

Nelson is a slight -122 favorite to defeat Holland at UFC London on Saturday.

Gunnar Nelson (19-5-1) is on a two-game winning streak and coming off wins over Barberena and Takashi Sato. Nelson is 10-5 in the UFC and has notable wins over Alex Oliveira, Zak Cummings, and Omari Akhmedov.