411 MMA Interviews: Roy Nelson

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 09.30.2009

411mania.com speaks with the man facing Kimbo Slice this week on the Ultimate Fighter, former IFL Heavyweight Champion, Roy "Big Country" Nelson, for an exclusive interview.

This week on the highly rated new season of The Ultimate Fighter, Kimbo Slice will be taking on 14-4 heavyweight fighter, Roy "Big Country" Nelson. Roy Nelson before making it onto the show was the one and only undefeated heavyweight champion of the now defunct IFL promotion. Besides being a former title holder, Nelson also holds a black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Renzo Gracie. Last Thursday, Roy spoke with me over the phone following a training session:



Jeffrey Harris: Having fought on some of the bigger shows and against some big name opponents before, was it a tough decision for you to go onto the show or did you feel this was the best route to get into the UFC?

Roy Nelson: To go to the UFC, you can go the other route which is the easy way which is go, "Hey do you want me to fight?" And then you just fight. From a business standpoint and going through the the house, you get 10 times more exposure, people get to know who you are, I get to introduce myself to the UFC fans in a big way. So I mean, I look at this as a very smart business transaction just because the fan exposure alone is – I just want to introduce myself to the UFC fan.

JH: Any thoughts on Quinton "Rampage" Jackson quitting MMA and the UFC to pursue an acting career?

RN: It all depends on really what it is. This could be a Tito Ortiz-like extortion ploy, but the reason why I even started martial arts or even like wanted even to fight was because I wanted to be a B-movie actor. I wanted to be Billy Blanks or Don "The Dragon" Wilson. I just wanted to be able to do martial arts in movies. That's actually the reason why I even got into the whole martial art aspect of fighting. Chuck Norris did it and look where he's at.

JH: Look at Cung Le right now. But as a coach, Rampage seemed to pick guys more for how they looked rather than their skills, any thoughts on that?

RN: Yeah, he pretty much went off on guys based off of pure size. If they were taller than him, he picked them. So I mean, as far as I know, he didn't pick anybody off of like skill. He went off of who was the coolest and who was the tallest.

JH: I think you were the fifth person picked for Team Rashad. Did you feel undervalued at all when the teams were being picked?

RN: Not really. You had Quentin, he wanted the cool team or whoever was the tallest. And then pretty much, Rashad picked his teammates that he's friends with, so not really. It doesn't really matter because at the end of the day it's about whose in the winner's circle.

JH: On the show after Kimbo Slice was revealed as the 16th man, you said you thought you were the big surprise, now did you really believe that or were you being facetious?

RN: No, it was actually – I was joking around, but no I didn't think I was the big surprise. I just figured I was one of the big surprises because Dana [White] always has more than one.

JH: How did you take to the experience of living in the house and being cut off from society and your loved ones and also training with people you aren't used to training with?

RN: I mean it actually kind of sucked. I've never been to jail, and I can imagine jail being a little bit better, but for most part it's a Mastercard commercial where gloves cost $50, hand wraps cost $5, your chance at being an Ultimate Fighter – priceless. So its one of those things you kind of just have to give and take and give up 6 weeks of your life and just go balls to the wall and try and go for it.

JH: People in jail and hardened criminals seem to get more amenities these days than what you guys had in the house.

RN: That's totally true. You can go to jail and get a college education.

JH: What did you miss the most?

RN: The biggest thing I missed the most from being home was probably my wife. I mean she's my rock. She keeps everything – she's my balance like you know how you need balance and everything. She's like the yin to my yang. She's the one that keeps me grounded to everything.

JH: Ever any tension with you and Wes Sims in the house?

RN: No. The thing is, Wes was probably the most respectful guy in the house to me . . . but the thing is its Wes, he's just trying to go for camera time. Wes is just trying to work his angle; he's trying to be going at the TV angle because he can't fight.

JH: We know you are fighting Kimbo Slice on the show and we can't talk about that, but how did you feel when you knew you were going to be fighting Kimbo Slice?

RN: I was just like, "great." It sucks because I think I get one of the harder guys on Rampage's team. Me personally, I wanted the three easiest guys to make it to the finals, and Kimbo was one of the tougher guys. I just take it with a grain of salt and just like that's one guy I got to get through to make it to the finals and hopefully I do.

JH: Matt Mitrione says you are a good cook, but you bumped heads with Kimbo a little bit in the kitchen. Was there some tension with you and Kimbo in the kitchen?

RN: No . . . Kimbo likes to use a mustard BBQ sauce. I just like to use old fashioned BBQ sauce. Sometimes you don't need to ruin a good steak with BBQ sauce.

JH: You lost your last fight to Jeff Monson in a close decision, and shortly afterward you ended up cornering Monson in his next fight. How close do you feel that decision was?

RN: Myself and for Jeff, we both believe that I won. That was one of the easiest fights I've ever had in my whole entire fight career, and I thought that was the easiest lock, I just didn't have the killer instinct. And that's the one thing I regret because me and Jeff were cool before that, but as you can see two weeks later Jeff had me cornering him and actually coached him.

JH: How upset were you by the Arlovski fight, and the controversial stand-up?

RN: Arlovski fight, I would love to have that one back again just for my own ego, but for the biggest thing I would say the Arlovski fight made me a 10 times better fighter as in it was the first time I ever lost my head in a fight, and I learned from it and now I'm a better fighter for it because I don't let other outside influences affect my fight performance.

JH: A lot of people have talked about your weight and your belly before, but being in the house did you cut down in weight at all, or are you right now at optimal weight and running on all cylinders?

RN: Well if I get on the special sauce, I'll let you know. But as for everything else, like when I was in the house we probably trained out twice a day, I probably ate probably less than anybody in the house because I always had to make sure I was on weight because you never knew when you had to fight. But for the most part, I actually ended up going up in weight in the house and then training 4 hours a day, didn't do anything else, no fast food, no nothing, ate healthy, so for the most parts it's not about diet it's just kind of how I'm built. I mean you see linemen that are built the same way . . . football players making millions of dollars, but nobody cares.

JH: Besides getting into B-movies and martial arts movies, why did you want to be in MMA?

RN: The biggest thing of why I wanted to be a mixed martial artist, I love martial arts. I love teaching, I love coaching, that whole aspect that's why – I used to teach kids when I used to teach elementary school. I just love the aspect of just analyzing, you know chess? That's the reason I got into it and then when I was coaching all the professional athletes out there that were in the UFC and UFC champions, they weren't paying my bills so that's the real reason why I just figured to throw my hat in the arena and go, "Well if you're not going to pay it, I'll just take your money."

JH: Now that the experience is behind you, can you look at maybe one thing Rashad Evans and the other coaches taught you that you found invaluable?

RN: I think the biggest thing is just make sure you surround yourself with people that are actually in your best interest that are going to look out for you. I think that's probably what I've learned the most is surround yourself with good people.

JH: Favorite food?

RN: Favorite food, probably just good old steak.

JH: Favorite beverage, drink, or brew?

RN: Favorite drink? Just a nice lemon ice water always hits the spot for me.

JH: Any sponsors or people you would like to thank or give a shout out to?

RN: I always want to thank my wife, my manager and team: MMA Glory Talent, and of course Tapout, Super Action.com, and of course the fans. Those are the ones that make the sport what it is.

JH: Thank you so much for your time sir.

RN: I appreciate it, thanks.



Roy Nelson vs. Kimbo Slice goes down on this week's edition of The Ultimate Fighter. Remember to tune into 411mania.com to get all the updates and news on the show.