Roy Nelson: Dana’s going to say what he needs to say
Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin are opposing coaches in TUF 16. The normally laid back Carwin was anything but in…
Roy Nelson and Shane Carwin are opposing coaches in TUF 16. The normally laid back Carwin was anything but in a recent interview.
“I don’t respect that guy,” said Carwin. “I don’t like him. I just think he’s disrespectful. He’ll talk all kinds of s— behind your back and stuff, but then when he’s at my face, all he wanted to do was talk about the UFC contracts to me. I’m like, ‘Who are you, man? Get out of my face.’ I’m just not up for that type of bulls— I hate people that when you turn around, they’re stabbing you in the back, and when you’re back at their face, they’re trying to be your best friend. That doesn’t work for me. There’s nobody else I want to fight more. I can’t wait to fight this guy.”
“Could he be a lot better? I think he could if he would actually be serious about it, and have coaches he would listen to, and things like that. I’m pretty sure he’s uncoachable. He just likes to hear himself talk and tell everybody how great he is.
Nelson however did not respond in kind, mostly.
“You know, I’ve never butted heads with him,” said Carwin. “I’ve never headbutted him either [laughs]. The conversations we’ve had have been, ‘Thank you’, ‘Yes sir’, ‘No sir’, things like that. Shane Carwin is the former UFC champion. He’s the greatest thing. I love that guy. I think he’s awesome. I have no ill will toward him.The thing is, I don’t really think about Shane Carwin. He’s not in my everyday life. I am gonna fight him, and then I’ll forget him, just like everybody else has.”
Carwin was out for months with a knee injury, leading to speculation that Nelson’s recent tweets about wanting to fight Daniel Cormier may mean the knee is not quite cage ready yet.
“I’ll fight Daniel Cormier, no problem,” said Nelson. “Gonzaga needs an opponent. I’ll fight him, too. I really don’t care if Shane is ready or not. I just need to get some fights in. I’ve got stuff to do. They talk about how they want fighters, well, I’m a fighter. I think one reason why I have fans that love me, is because I go out there and fight. Supposedly, that’s what the UFC is built off of, the fighter’s hard work. Guess what? That’s what I do.”
So is there a plan B if Carwin’s knee is in fact going to cause a postponement of the December headliner?
“I don’t get those calls,” said Nelson. “That would be like a courtesy call. It would be like a respect thing. I don’t get those. I get whatever I see on TV, or whatever I see on the internet, the same way you guys do.”
Having addressed Shane Carwin, Carwin’s knee, Daniel Cormier, and the UFC, the final response was to UFC president Dana White, who told Ariel Helwani on a recent “UFC Tonight” show that Roy Nelson is by the worst coach to deal with” in the history of the entire series.
“He never said I was the worst coach,” retorted Nelson. “He said I was the worst coach he ever had to deal with. If he was talking about the worst coach, it would be Shane, because he doesn’t even coach. Dana’s going to say what he needs to say, and I can’t help that. It’s just one of those things. We don’t really have libel or slander in our business.”