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Sunday, Dec 16, 2012

Full Contact Fighter’s “The Daily Takedown:” Roy Nelson – How Far Can The Fat Guy Go?

Roy Nelson (photo via UFC.com)

By Joshua Molina

Chael Sonnen calls himself “The Bad Guy.”

Roy Nelson is “The Fat Guy.” But he’s one fat guy you definitely don’t want to tease.

Just ask Mitrione, Dave Herman and a host of other seemingly better-conditioned, well-trained fighters.

Nelson continued his entertaining UFC ride Saturday night with an impressive victory over Mitrione, a former NFL player and Kimbo Slice-slayer.

Nelson looks more like your dad, than your top UFC fighter. His stomach droops over his fight trunks. He’s 250 pounds, with no tan, and wears a long, creepy, white beard.

The question is – how far can Nelson go?

Nelson, as was pointed out about the four billion times Saturday night, lasted three rounds with Junior Dos Santos, widely considered the best heavyweight striker in the business, en route to losing a decision.

Before Mitrione got caught with a devastating right hand, he seemed to be giving Nelson some trouble with a series of leg kicks. Mitrione’s whole plan was to stretch Nelson into the later rounds. That obviously didn’t work.

In the same way that Sonnen got a title shot from Jon Jones for no logical reason, the UFC should think about giving Nelson a shot against the winner of the Alistair Overeem vs. Cain Velasquez/Junior Dos Santos fight.

Nelson has a large following of fans who want to cheer for “the fat guy” to beat the more muscular athletes.

Can you imagine Nelson taking on Overeem? What a fight that would be.

Saturday’s show also featured the crowning of Colton Smith as the new Ultimate Fighter.

The former Army Ranger smothered his opponent Mike Ricci for three rounds, before barely surviving a triangle arm bar at the end of round three.

In Smith’s corner for the fight was another Army Ranger, Strikeforce’s Tim Kennedy.

Clearly, Kennedy taught Smith a thing or two – based on Smith’s performance. Smith stuck to Ricci like glue, forcing the fight nearly all on the ground. Smith was reminiscent of Kennedy’s recent performances – not a lot of traditional fighting, and a lot of grappling to control his opponent – except that Smith was successful.

Kennedy looked like Smith’s Fan Club President, hopping around in the Octagon after Smith’s decision victory.

The night before former Bellator star Hector Lombard rebounded from a close loss to Tim Boetsch in his first UFC fight to KO Rousimar Palhares. At 34 years old, Lombard is somewhat of enigma.

He’s fighting in the talent-rich middleweight division and his stalking style appears to have several vulnerabilities against a fighter who can take him to the ground.

posted by JoshuaM @ 7:06 pm
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