Nelson vs. Hunt Rumored for September Card in Japan

According to MMAFighting.com reporter, Ariel Helwani, the UFC is planning on putting a heavyweight clash together between Roy Nelson and Mark Hunt.  According to Helwani, the UFC is targeting a fight between the two heavy-handed sluggers on a Japanese card in September.  Both men are coming off of phenomenal performances in their most recent outings.  Roy Nelson is coming off of a first round finish of PRIDE legend, Minotauro Noguiera last month while Hunt had a five-round war with Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva that was originally scored as a majority draw, but was overturned to a no contest after Silva failed the post-fight drug test.

Both men have heavy hands and it would be possibly one of the biggest heavyweight fights in the history of the UFC.  Hopefully we see this fight come into fruition, but it is possible that it may not come to be as Roy Nelson is still recovering from an injured hand.  Be sure to stay posted to Tough Spar MMA for future updates on this possible fight.

UFC Fight Night Abu Dhabi: Event Results

Main Card:

Roy Nelson def. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira KO Round 1
Clay Guida def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via unanimous decision
Ryan LaFlare def. John Howard via unanimous decision
Ramsey Nijem def. Beneil Dariush via TKO (strikes) Round 1

Preliminary Card:

Jared Rosholt def. Daniel Omielanczuk via unanimous decision
Thales Leites def. Trevor Smith via first-round TKO
Jim Alers def. Alan Omer via split decision
Johny Bedford vs. Rani Yahya no-contest (accidental head-butt) Round 1

UFC Abu Dhabi: Headlined by Nogueira vs. Nelson

On April 11th the UFC will be heading to Abu Dhabi for the second time in its 20 year existence.  It has been made official that the UFC will have heavyweights Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira and Roy Nelson square off as the headlining fight for UFC Fight Night 39.

Both men are coming off of losses in their most recent outings in the UFC.  Roy Nelson most recently lost to rising contender Stipe Miocic amd Nogueira most recently lost to longtime heavyweight standout Fabricio Werdum.  This is a fight between two big names in the UFC's Heavyweight Division. This fight could've been a big deal a few years ago, but isn't really appealing at this stage of their careers. Nogueira isnt going to be fighting for a place in the rankings and is simply fighting out the rest of his contract.  Nelson can still earn a title shot, but this won't be a fight that will catapult him back to the top; it will simply put another W on his record.  It's an interesting fight between to high level grapplers with good boxing.

UFC 166 Results

Main Card:

Cain Velasquez def. Junior dos Santos via fifth-round TKO
Daniel Cormier def. Roy Nelson via unanimous decision
Gilbert Melendez def. Diego Sanchez via unanimous decision
Gabriel Gonzaga def. Shawn Jordan via first-round TKO
John Dodson def. Darrell Montague via first-round KO

Preliminary Card:

Tim Boetsch def. C.B. Dollaway via split decision
Hector Lombard def. Nate Marquardt via first-round KO
Jessica Eye def. Sarah Kaufman via split decision
KJ Noons def. George Sotiropoulos via unanimous decision
Adlan Amagov def. TJ Waldburger via first-round KO
Tony Ferguson def. Mike Rio via submission (D'Arce choke)
Andre Fili def. Jeremy Larsen via second-round TKO
Kyoji Horiguchi def. Dustin Pague via second-round TKO

What a night of fights tonight at UFC 166! The night began with John Dodson squaring off with UFC newcomer, Darrell Montague in the UFC Flyweight Division.  John Dodson was able to outwork Montague on the feet dropping him to the canvas before inevitably being KO'd in the first round.

The night then went from the lightest division in the UFC to the heaviest division.  Shawn Jordan and Gabriel Gonzaga met in the center of the cage to engage in a stand up war in the Heavyweight division.  The match had a feeling out process until Gonzaga connected with the hands and landed on Jordan and also earning a first round KO in his fight tonight.

The next fight was between two talented UFC Lightweights, Gilbert Melendez and Diego Sanchez.  It was a fight in which Melendez began the first round out-classing Sanchez in a very dominate round.  In the second and third rounds of the fight, both men went into complete brawl mode with both men swinging for the fences.  The difference between the two fighters was Melendez seemed to never lose his technical edge even during the wild exchanges, Melendez was still connecting with his clean boxing and great movement. If there was one word to describe the third round of the fight, it would be fireworks!  Melendez won a unanimous decision in a classic fight in the UFC Lightweight Division. "That's the greatest fight I've ever seen in my life," were the word that came out of the mouth of Joe Rogan after the fight.

Next was a fight between to top Heavyweights as Roy Nelson would be set to fight undefeated heavyweight Daniel Cormier.  Cormier was able to out-grapple Nelson for all three rounds and even use his speed to actually beat Nelson on the feet as well.  Cormier won an obvious unanimous decision.

In the final fight of the evening we saw a battle between the perfect forms of both of the main event fighters as the clashed for the third time in the UFC.  Cain Velasquez used the same strategy that he used in their second fight.  Cain used his amazing rappling to pin Junior against the cage for over 20 minutes but showed improved striking to help aid him in taking out the documented better striker.  Dos Santos showed improved wrestling by defending most of Velasquez's takedowns.  After a grueling 20 plus minutes of battling, Velasquez was able to pull off a TKO victory due to strikes.

UFC 166 Weigh-in Results PLUS Predictions!

Main Card:
Junior Dos Santos (240) VS Cain Velasquez (241)
Roy Nelson (249) VS Daniel Cormier (224)
Diego Sanchez (156) VS Gilbert Melendez (156)
Shawn Jordan (255) VS Gabriel Gonzaga (257)
Darrell Montague (126) VS John Dodson (125)

Preliminary Card:
Tim Boetsch (186) VS CB Dollaway (186)
Hector Lombard (169) VS Nate Marquardt (171)
Jessica Eye (135) VS Sarah Kaufman (135)
KJ Noons (156) VS George Sotiropoulos (155)
Adlan Amagov (171) VS TJ Waldburger (170.5)
Mike Rio (156) VS Tony Ferguson (155)
Jeremy Larsen (145.5) VS Andre Fili (148.5)
Kyoji Horiguchi (135) vs Dustin Pague (135)

UFC 166 is going to be a HUGE night for the UFC Heavyweight division with the final chapter of the Velasquez-Dos Santos saga scheduled for tomorrow night at 10pm eastern time.  Velasquez and Dos Santos have exchanged the UFC title between the two of them over the last two years.  Tomorrow night only one man can leave as the UFC Heavyweight Champion.  In October of 2010, Cain Velasquez defeated Brock Lesnar to gain the UFC Heavyweight Championship.  A year later in the same city where he won the title, a hungry Junior Dos Santos came in and took the title from Velasquez in his first match after winning the title.  A year later the UFC granted Velasquez the opportunity to prove that his title win was not a fluke and Cain Velasquez did more than deliver in the rematch in which he strategically dismantled Dos Santos for 25 whole minutes.  After that meeting last year, Junior Dos Santos took on and knocked out fan favorite Mark Hunt, which earned him another chance to face Velasquez.  If this match turns out to be everything that it could be, then we are in for a real treat.  The question becomes, will it be Dos Santos' power punching or Velasquez's cerebral approach that will win the fight?

Predictions for the Event via MMATakedown.net:

Cormier's Last Fight at Heavyweight

Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix Champion, Daniel Cormier has announced that after his fight with Roy Nelson he will no longer compete at heavyweight in the UFC.  Win, lose or draw Daniel Cormier will be dropping to 205 lbs and has the intent on competing for the UFC Light Heavyweight Championship.  Daniel Cormier wants to be a world champion in the UFC but will not fight his friend and AKA training partner, UFC Heavyweight Champion, Cain Velasquez, so he has decided to drop down to 205 to achieve his dream in the UFC.

Possible Cut to 205 for Nelson?

Roy Nelson posted the above image on his Facebook page on Monday of this week.  This was a photo taken for his interview with MMA site Sherdog.  He is noticeably fitter than the last time he was in action in the UFC.  Nelson has expressed interest in possibly moving down to 205 lbs and believes he could make the cut easier than his UFC 166 opponent Daniel Cormier.  It will be interesting to see how much both men weigh in come their bout this month.

I believe that the move to 205 would be a good move for Nelson.  Aside from extra weight that Nelson has been carrying for years in his belly, he is not built like the other guys who fight in the heavyweight division of MMA. At Light heavyweight, Nelson would be fighting guys who are naturally closer to his size than the behemoths that fight at 265 lbs.  Nelson who has been fighting guys much larger than himself would have a significant advantage in receiving punishment from guys that are slightly smaller than the men that he is used to facing.  Only time will tell if Nelson will proceed with this transition to 205 or stay as a trimmer in-shape heavyweight.