In the MMA game, some training camps go good and some training camps go bad, and according to UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson (19-8 MMA, 6-4 UFC) his latest camp was the latter of the two:
“This has actually probably been the crappiest camp that I’ve ever had,” Nelson admitted on Wednesday. “It is what it is.”
The root of Nelson’s problems began in mid-September, when his head boxing coach, Jeff Mayweather, suffered a mild heart attack after drinking an energy drink. The 49-year-old, Mayweather, wound up being hospitalized for weeks. Doctors subsequently diagnosed Mayweather with “full-blown diabetes,” and from there things only got worse:
“I lost Jeff probably about two weeks into camp,” Nelson explained. “I lost (training partner Muhammed ‘King) Mo’ Lawal. I lost Ryan Martinez, because in Bellator he broke his hand. It was just one of those camps where anything possibly that could’ve happened, happened. So you just kind of deal with it. I mean, I’ve been in the game long enough to know what I’m supposed to do and put the work in. And at the end of the day, that’s what it is.”
Roy Nelson will face Strikeforce Heavyweight Grand Prix winner Daniel Cormier (12-0 MMA, 1-0 UFC) in the co-main event of this weekend’s UFC 166 card in Houston, Texas.
Who do you see winning this heavyweight clash? Let’s hear it Penn Nation!