Gunnar Nelson: McGregor showed up at camp with one leg

UFC welterweight Gunnar Nelson appeared recently on Submission Radio for a wide-ranging discussion. Nelson and UFC interim featherweight champion Conor McGregor train together extensively, and the Icelander confirmed that McGregor was indeed badly injured before last fight with Chad Mendes.

You know, fair play to him, he couldn’t walk for a while,” said Nelson. “And then he couldn’t wrestle or grapple for a long time in the camp. And he basically just did boxing, rounds of boxing, and checked the kicks, and all like that. He showed up on one leg, is basically what happened. He did the best he could, and he was injured there. No doubt. He was injured going into the fight. I mean, and he still preformed. And I think that’s very respectful.

Mendes was able to take McGregor down handily at UFC 189, but Nelson said he knew it would not be fatal.

You’re always a bit a worried when you’re watching your friends fight,” he began. “But I always knew that Mendes was never going to be able to submit him. And it looked to me he [Chad] was just wearing out. And I know Conor, he’ll go all day. So I wasn’t worried, because I knew he wasn’t going to be able to submit him, and it looked to me like he was starting to wear him down. So I was positive, looking at this fight. And it was always a tough one, and Mendes did some good things. But to me, even though you were a little bit worried, but then I always knew it was Conor’s fight. And then even watching it again, I saw that there was no doubt really.

Nelson also talked McGregor’s weight cut.

He does a big cut and he doesn’t like it,” said Nelson. “And I don’t think he’s gonna do it that much longer. I think he’s gonna move up. I think he wants to move up, and I don’t blame him. I wouldn’t be able to do this cut too many times, and it definitely takes it out of you. There is no doubt. He has a lot of energy and he’ll toughen through it and all that, and fight really well, even though he does this cut. But I just think, looking ahead, that this is not good for your health. And I don’t think he should do it many more times. And I’ve told him that, and that’s my opinion.

Nelson fights Demian Maia at UFC 194 on 12 December.

Even though I said that I don’t get attached to my opponents, I’m very happy to be fighting Demian Maia. I’ve been a fan of his for a long time, and he’s somebody that, I know people want to see this fight. It’s a fight that a lot of – especially people that are hooked on grappling – will want to see. It’s a grappler’s dream matchup. So I think it’s something that definitely had to happen. And I’m very happy it’s gonna happen this way.

I think my biggest advantage would definitely be speed, when it comes to the feet and the ground. I think Demian Maia is a very, very good grappler. And he’s shown that he’s very good in MMA as well, like his grappling. But I think still, when it comes to MMA-grappling, it’s a little bit different. And I’m sure he knows that, but my grappling skills developed for MMA. They didn’t develop for Jiu Jitsu competitions, even though I did them as well. But my grappling has always been for MMA, and I think that’s a little bit different. And I believe that’s something that I will showcase on December 12th.

“You know me, I’ll take the fight anywhere. I’ll just grab whatever is there and grab whatever opportunity presents itself. It’s my style. I like to react. I like to see, and what’s the fight that I’m against, and react to certain situations that I find and see. So that’s my style. So I couldn’t really make up a strict game plan or anything like this. I have loads of ideas of things that might happen in my fights, and I train them and I train situations that I believe are likely to happen in a fight in general. But when I get in there, I just, I look and I react.

I’m always working on something new. There’s always something to add on and some new movements. I really like working new movements and things like that, and we always do that. You’re always adding to your game that you already have.

“I read somewhere, or heard a long time ago that – and it fits in this case – that I don’t really like to talk about my weaknesses, I like to work on them. And I think that makes a lot of sense. There’s some things that you’re working on, that if you’re talking too much about it, it just takes from it, I think. And I don’t know if that makes sense, but it makes sense to me, that a lot of times, when you talk about things, it takes from them, from the feeling that I have towards them. It changes them to something that they’re not. Yeah I get this feeling quite a bit. So there’s some things that I just like to keep for myself. So like, they’re just a feel, and there’s a lot of things, when it comes to this sport, when it comes to training, that I have a hard time of explaining or talking about it. It gets better as you get older, and I’m sure it’s gonna be better when I become a coach of my own when I’m older. But right now, there’s a lot of things that are just a feel, and I like to keep them that way, until it just changes into words. If that makes sense. But there is a lot of things that, new movements and new things that I work on. New situations and new ideas of counters, countering certain energies from your opponent. Countering certain situations that you’re opponent puts on you, and stuff like that, that I’m very excited to showcase. There’s a lot of, like I said, I’m back on track. There’s a lot of new things, that I feel like I’m being almost reborn into this sport, you know?”

“I’ll be looking at the title very soon though, I think. My eyes are definitely going towards it. Although, you don’t want to look past anything. I definitely won’t look past Demian Maia or anyone that I’m facing. It is about the journey. If you start moving too fast, you won’t see the things that are around you, and eventually you build up yourself with holes. I don’t want to do that. I want to enjoy this journey, and I want to notice everything. I want to build up a solid, solid game. But I’m definitely looking at the belt, and I believe I will carry it next year.

I’ll definitely go in there and I will try to finish the fight. That’s one thing I know that I will always try doing, and that’s one thing I know I believe I will. So I believe that I will finish this fight.