Gunnar Nelson has been waiting to compete inside the UFC once again for a while, and today it was confirmed he’d received the call to do just that in May.
Nelson will be meeting Neil Magny in the co-main event of the increasingly anticipated UFC Liverpool, in a welterweight contest that has top ten implications. But, while a win over an established name in Magny would push Nelson on the way towards title contention, the Icelander isn’t really thinking about that right now.
More than anything, he’s just excited he’s getting to step back into the cage.
“It’s a relief to finally have a fight,” Nelson said, speaking with MMA Fréttir. “It’s been hard to get a fight booked. On a couple of occasions we really thought we had a fight booked, guys running their mouth and all that but then nothing. So it’s a good feeling to get a fight booked.“
Your #UFCLiverpool co-main event!!@NeilMagny vs. @GunniNelson pic.twitter.com/vno0rMkhjq
— UFC Europe (@UFCEurope) March 28, 2018
Magny was last seen with a decent victory over former UFC welterweight contender Carlos Condit, and has wins over names like Johny Hendricks, Kelvin Gastelum and Hector Lombard. For Nelson, it’s a contest he’s been anticipating for some time.
“I thought I would fight him sooner, there were talks about us fighting but it didn’t come to fruition,” Nelson said. “I’ve been excited to face him for some time now. This is great, I’m really glad I got Neil.”
“I’ve probably seen most of his fights since he established himself in the UFC. Very big and long, huge reach, uses his jab well and is just a well rounded fighter. Compared to me, he is probably weakest on the ground I suppose, like against Maia but Maia is an animal. But he is a bit of a slow starter I feel, it does take him some time to really get going. His best win in my opinion was against Hector Lombard were he got nearly finished in the first round but survived, got the engine running and finished him in the third.”
UFC Liverpool takes place on May 27.
