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Tag: gunnar nelson

  • UFC 318 Undercard Shaken As Veteran Fighter Pulls Out Due To Injury

    UFC 318 Undercard Shaken As Veteran Fighter Pulls Out Due To Injury

    UFC 318 has taken a hit, with a key fight being scrapped just two weeks ahead of the event.

    UFC 318 is scheduled for July 19 at the Smoothie King Center in New Orleans, Louisiana. The event will feature a high-profile lightweight headliner, with BMF titleholder Max Holloway taking on former interim champion Dustin Poirier.

    The eighth pay-per-view of 2025 is set to showcase Patricio Pitbull’s sophomore Octagon outing, as the former Bellator featherweight champion takes on Dan Ige in the co-main event. Also featured on the main card is a middleweight showdown between former title challenger Paulo Costa and the surging Roman Kopylov, along with a lightweight clash pitting Michael Johnson against Daniel Zellhuber.

    Image: @ufc/X

    Gunnar Nelson Withdraws From UFC 318 Clash With Neil Magny Due To Hamstring Injury

    On Friday, Gunnar Nelson took to Instagram to announce his withdrawal from his scheduled UFC 318 bout against Neil Magny, citing multiple hamstring injuries. “Gunni” revealed that the damage includes both a muscle tear and a tendon rupture, rendering him unable to train effectively. The Icelandic veteran added that he’ll need at least eight weeks of recovery before returning to normal.

    “I won’t get into any crazy details about the injury but I’ll tell you it’s a two-part injury, so there is a tear in one of the muscles in the hamstring, which is a Grade 2b injury,” Nelson said. “It’s not too bad, so it’s possibly something that we could have worked with. However, the second injury is on the tendon inside the muscle, which is a full thickness tear, so a Grade 4c injury and that’s a more serious one. Basically, I’m absolutely useless when it comes to any type of grappling scenarios. I’m not able to wrestle or grapple or kick and apparently it will be another eight weeks at least until I can comfortably have any type of grappling training at full speed.”

    Nelson last competed at UFC London in March, where he dropped a unanimous decision to Kevin Holland, bringing an end to his two-fight win streak. “Gunni” has fought just 12 times over the past 11 years, during which he has compiled an even 6–6 record in the Ocatgon.

    As for Magny, it remains unclear whether a replacement opponent will be secured for UFC 318 or if his bout with Nelson will be rescheduled for a later date. “The Haitian Sensation” is currently riding a two-fight skid, both losses coming by knockout, with the most recent setback suffered at the hands of rising contender Carlos Prates in November 2024.

  • Watch Kevin Holland Drop Gunnar Nelson En Route To Decision Win At UFC London

    Watch Kevin Holland Drop Gunnar Nelson En Route To Decision Win At UFC London

    Kevin Holland dropped back down to welterweight and now finds himself back in the win column after defeating Gunnar Nelson at UFC London.

    Holland looked to utilize his striking to take control early before being taken down. He remained active while on the ground, including a funny scene of him holding onto Nelson’s arm when the Icelandic veteran lifted him up.

    The American nearly scored a victory at the end of the round, dropping Nelson and just barely missing out on a ground-and-pound finish.

    Holland continued to show a strong stand-up game, stuffing multiple takedowns and landing several hard-hitting blows. Any Nelson takedown saw the “Trailblazer” quickly shake off.

    Kevin Holland Scores Decision Win Over Gunnar Nelson At UFC London

    “Gunni” seemed to get a strong start to round three by not only taking Holland down early, but also getting into mount. Holland eventually managed to reverse the position and then made the most of his striking, leading to 29-28s across all three scorecards.

    Kevin Holland entered tonight with four losses in his last five fights, featuring outings at both 170 and 185 pounds. His sole win in that span came in a submission against Michał Oleksiejczuk at UFC 302.

    Meanwhile, this was Nelson’s first fight since submitting Bryan Barberena at UFC 286. He entered tonight off back-to-back wins having also beaten Takashi Soto.

  • Archives: Lobov Addresses “Little B**ch” Tyron Woodley Via Twitter (2017)

    Last night, Gunnar Nelson picked up another victory when he defeated Takashi Sato at UFC London. Coincidentally, nearly five years exactly to the day, Nelson picked up another win at a UFC London event over Alan Jouban. According to Artem Lobov, one person who should have been taking careful notes of his performance was none other than Tyron Woodley.

    The following article was published on this day five years ago. It is presented to you in its original, unaltered form, courtesy of The MMA News Archives.

    On This Day Five Years Ago…

    [ORIGINALLY PUBLISHED MARCH 20, 2017, 11:20 AM]

    Tyron Woodley has not held back when discussing what he perceives to be unfair treatment by the UFC due to his ethnicity.

    One fighter on the UFC’s roster who has taken the welterweight champion of the world’s words the wrong way, it would seem, is SBG Ireland’s Artem “The Russian Hammer” Lobov. The friend and training partner of UFC lightweight champion of the world Conor McGregor is similarly not a man afraid to speak his mind.

    Following Lobov’s SBG teammate Gunnar Nelson’s exploits on Saturday’s Fight Night London, the featherweight (who will next fight #4 ranked Cub Swanson) took to Twitter to offer Woodley some advice when it comes to handling yourself as a professional fighter. The method for Tyron Woodley, according to Artem Lobov? To be more like Nelson:

    Hey @TWoodley this is how you promote yourself, not by crying and moaning like a little bitch”.

    You can watch the highlight of Nelson’s finish of Alan Jouban below.

    Lobov will have an opportunity to announce himself to the UFC’s upper tiers when he squares off against fan-favorite Cub Swanson on the headline fight of UFC Fight Night 108 in Nashville this April 22.

    Check out MMANews.com’s exclusive interview with Tyron Woodley here.

  • Gunnar Nelson To Face Replacement Takashi Sato At UFC London

    UFC welterweight Gunnar Nelson finally has a new opponent for the upcoming UFC London card on March 19.

    News of the booking was first reported by ESPN’s Brett Okamoto.

    Takashi Sato will fill in for the injured Claudio Silva on 11 days’ notice against Nelson. Sato hasn’t fought in the Octagon since his submission loss to Miguel Baeza in November 2020.

    Nelson has also spent a considerable amount of time away from MMA competition. He’s slated to make his first walk to the Octagon since his loss to former title challenger Gilbert Burns in September 2019. He’s lost back-to-back fights to Burns and Leon Edwards.

    Nelson’s last win came against Alex Oliveira at UFC 231, submitting Oliveira in the second round. He’s also picked up wins over Albert Tumenov and Alan Jouban over his recent stretch of fights.

    Nelson will get a tough assignment against the short-notice replacement Sato. While Sato has lost two of his last three UFC fights, he’s an accomplished striker and could give Nelson plenty of headaches on the feet.

    Nelson is mostly known for his grappling, as he’s demonstrated in past wins over Omari Akhmedov and DaMarques Johnson. Sato has earned gruesome knockouts over the likes of Jason Witt and Ben Saunders in the UFC.

    The UFC London card is set to be headlined by a heavyweight matchup between Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov, though it’s still unclear if the main event and the Russian Volkov will be impacted by the ongoing Russia-Ukraine conflict.

    What are your thoughts on Takashi Sato vs. Gunnar Nelson at UFC London?

  • Gunnar Nelson Returns At UFC London Against Cláudio Silva

    Gunnar Nelson is back.

    Nelson, who has not fought since September of 2019, is set to return at UFC London on March 19 against Cláudio Silva. The news was first reported by MMA journalist Alfredo Zullino. Several outlets have since confirmed the news. The main event of the UFC London card at the 02 Arena sees Tom Aspinall take on Alexander Volkov.

    Gunnar Nelson (17-5-1) last fought at UFC Copenhagen in 2019 where he suffered a decision loss to Gilbert Burns. It was his second loss in a row after dropping a split decision to Leon Edwards at UFC London in Mach of 2019. The Icelandic fighter just recently signed a new multi-fight deal with the promotion and hinted at a fight being announced soon.

    Nelson has been in the UFC since 2012 and is 8-5 inside the Octagon. He holds notable wins over Alex Oliveira, Zak Cummings, Omari Akhmedov, and Alan Jouban among others. He has headlined a UFC event as well but lost by first-round KO to Santiago Ponzinibbio.

    UFC London: Catch up with Claudio Silva before fight vs. Danny Roberts
    Cláudio Silva

    Cláudio Silva (14-3) is also riding a two-fight losing streak as he is coming off a loss to Court McGee by decision in May of 2021. His other loss came at the hands of James Krause in October of 2020.

    Prior to the setbacks, Silva was on a 14-fight winning streak and was 5-0 in the UFC, including wins over Leon Edwards, Nordine Taleb, and Danny Roberts among others.

    With the addition of Nelson vs. Silva at UFC London, the card is as follows:

    • Alexander Volkov vs. Tom Aspinall
    • Arnold Allen vs. Dan Hooker
    • Gunnar Nelson vs. Cláudio Silva
    • Jake Hadley vs. Allan Nascimento
    • Luana Carolina vs. Molly McCann
    • Cody Durden vs. Muhammad Mokaev
    • Makwan Amirkhani vs. Mike Grundy
    • Jack Shore vs. Timur Valiev
    • Shamil Abdurakhimov vs. Sergei Pavlovich

    Who do you think will win, Gunnar Nelson or Cláudio Silva?

  • Gunnar Nelson Signs New Deal With The UFC, Teases Fight Announcement

    Gunnar Nelson will be coming back soon.

    Nelson, who last fought in September of 2019 where he lost to Gilbert Burns, has not been heard from for over two years. There has been little talk of his next fight, but the Icelandic fighter announced on social media he has inked a new multi-fight deal with the UFC. He also teased a fight announcement.

    “New multi-fight contract signed with the @ufc. Hopefully a fight announcement coming soon,” Nelson wrote on social media.

    Before the loss to decision loss to Burns at UFC Copenhagen, he suffered a split decision loss to Leon Edwards at UFC London in March of 2019. Before the back-to-back setbacks, he picked up a submission win over Alex Oliveira in a violent fight at UFC 231.

    Gunnar Nelson
    Image Credit: Dave Mandel of Sherdog.com

    Nelson has been in the UFC since 2012 and is 8-5 inside the Octagon, including headlining a card against Santiago Ponzinibbio, where he was knocked out in the first round. He does hold notable wins over Alan Jouban, Zak Cummings, Omari Akhmedov, and Albert Tumenov.

    Part of the reason why Nelson has not fought is due to injuries and back in December, he opened up about it to MMAFighting’s MMA Hour.

    “It takes a long time, and it can be so crippling,” Nelson said of the back-to-back rib injuries that have now kept him out of the cage for over two years. “They’re just terrible. It was at the top here, so the top ribs, so it affects the shoulder, it affects the breathing, it affects everything.”

    At this time, it’s uncertain the 33-year-old when he will fight again and who it will be against. However, the UFC London card serves as a likely date for Nelson to make his return back in Europe.

    Who would you like to see Gunnar Nelson fight in his return?