Betting $2M On Yourself: The Untold Fighter's Gamble | Roy Nelson DSH #680

They have the two million first.

Facts.

Facts.

That is a lot of money to just have lying around.

Yeah, but if you're betting on yourself, then it's like that's an easy bet.

Yeah.

Were you allowed to bet on yourself when you were fighting in UFC and stuff?

Only to, you know, you have to only bet to win.

Okay.

And but it's but it was always hard because there was no betting lines because there'd be times where you'd be like, dude, I want to bet on myself.

And you're like,

all right, guys, we got Roy Nelson here.

Thanks for coming on, man.

I appreciate you having me.

Yeah, Vegas Local, right?

Vegas Local.

How long are you?

One of those rare breeds.

Rare, yeah.

How long you been out here?

Born and raised.

Oh, yeah.

That's what you said.

Super rare.

Okay.

Yeah, that is super rare.

I feel like Vegas has grown a lot since you were.

Oh, super.

Like,

I want to say when I was born, I think there might have been only 200,000 people.

Damn.

If that.

What is it at now?

2 million?

So a 10x?

Yeah.

10x, baby.

And all these new hotels, restaurants.

Yeah, but

the strip's always been the same.

Yeah.

Just changed the hotels.

It's kind of like the club, you know, in the club industry where it's like got a new club every four or five years, but it's the same club.

Yeah.

Just a different name.

Facts.

Facts.

Was fighting big when you were starting out in Vegas?

Vegas, it's always been boxing.

Boxing.

It was boxing like

back in the day.

It used to be the Hilton, but now it's the Westgate.

And then Caesars.

They used to have the outside venue.

Remember the fan man?

No, I came here three years ago.

Everybody knows the fan man from, I think it was a Riddick Bow

fight.

They were fighting outside in the back

of Caesars and a guy on a fan, you know, parachute came in through the ring.

What?

No, I need to see that now.

That sounds intense, bro.

That's crazy.

Yeah.

What did you think of the recent boxing match with Brian Garcia?

Did you see that?

You know what?

That was one of those fights that everybody had him bet against him.

And then plus, they thought he wasn't taking it serious.

And then he's like, I've been drinking all the way to the fight.

So good for him, though.

But you, as a fighter, probably saw through that and realized it was marketing, right?

Yeah, no, it's the thing is

in fighting, you either care about the guy or you don't, you know, it's either you have to have some type of opinion.

Either like, I want to see him get beat up or I want to see him win.

But if you're like, eh, who cares?

He bet $2 million on himself.

Did you see that?

Yeah, but the thing is, you have to have the $2 million first.

Facts.

Facts.

That is a lot of money to just have lying around.

Yeah, but if you're betting on yourself, then it's like, that's an easy bet.

Yeah.

Were you allowed to bet on yourself when you were fighting in UFC and stuff?

Only to, you know, you have to only bet to win.

Okay.

And, but it's, but it was always hard because there was no betting lines.

Because there'd be times where you'd be like, dude, I want to bet on myself.

And you're like,

it wasn't big enough back then.

It wasn't even big.

It was like not big enough.

and then or it wasn't

there was too many like legalization,

I will say hands in the pot, you know, like where it can kind of go one way or the other.

Yeah, um, because uh, there was even in Japan, they always had, you know, like some fights were, you know, we'll say staged or fixed in Japan, yeah.

So then they thought it might carry on over damn.

Those Japanese people, man, be fixing fights,

they were always putting on the show.

Yeah.

It's entertainment, right?

WWE style.

WWE, but for real.

Yeah.

You think fixing is still a thing these days, or is it kind of lost?

I think there was,

I think it was a couple months back.

One of the coaches actually just got banned from

because

he got kind of

toiled up with some of the...

the betting guys.

Oh, yeah?

Yeah.

Which league was that in?

UFC.

Oh, UFC?

Yeah.

Wow.

That's surprising.

That's where the only money's at.

That's where you can only bet.

Well, some of these judges, man, one of the Brian Garcia judges scored at a tie.

Did you see that?

Yeah, but see, the judges, they can make it up.

I'm coming from where I've been in a fight and going, what were you watching?

Right.

And so.

Because when you're in the fight, you feel like you're winning, but maybe subjectively you're not.

No.

No, when you know in a fight, you're like, if, because if you've ever been in, it's like, if you've ever been in a fight you know who won the fight okay and the guy your opponent knows who won the fight and then at the end and then at the end you're like

okay what you know like if you're like literally going i don't know what you're watching then it's

and then you can go back and re-watch and you're like no that's exactly because

on the subjective side would be like does he hit like a sister you know a girl or does he hit like a man you know like it's like oh you played pitter patter or or tag or whatever, then you're like, oh, that's what you're, that's what he was judging off of versus a real punch.

Yeah.

You know what I mean?

Yeah, yeah.

I feel like with UFC, you could pretty much tell who won.

For the most part.

Yeah, because you're getting physically beat up.

I mean, it's not like boxing where it's more like a tactical.

Well, the thing is,

I think with boxing, they actually start counting, you know, like, oh, look, 110 punches to seven.

You know, and then you're like, oh, that's the, you know, the sweet sides.

That's, you know, boxing.

Yeah.

Where at MMA, it's like

you kind of go in the same, kind of the same route, but then at the same time, you're like, well, no, I saw that guy draw blood.

And,

you know, and he was kind of oozy.

Yeah.

You're like, I think you hit him.

I mean, in boxing, it's where if you get knocked down, they have to judge it at a 10-8 round.

Yeah.

Where in MMA, I could knock you to the floor.

It's not going to be a 10-8.

You might be able to come back.

You might do some jiu-jitsu or because I, you know, followed you down.

And then next thing you know, it's a 10-9 or it's reversed and it's 10-9 the other guy.

Yeah, that makes sense.

You just fought the bare knuckle league, right?

I just did George Mestall's BK,

well, bare knuckle MMA.

What was that like?

Because no gloves, right?

No, it's basically MMA, just no gloves.

So a real fight.

I think it brings out the

I was just talking to my coach today about it.

Like, what's the difference between that and regular MMA is basically the fighters actually come out

where it's kind of like, we'll say the old school guys that got everybody involved in

MMA from the Hoist Gracies, the

Henzo Gracie to

just

Mark Coleman's, you know, just the guys just love to fight.

And then like now, now the sports kind of changed where they were just a little bit more athletic and they're just playing tag.

They're playing towards the judges.

Jiu-Jitsu side of things, yeah.

Not even the jiu-jitsu, just straight, like playing tag.

Oh, almost like boxing, like Floyd boxes.

Yeah, just where it's like, I'm not worried about knocking you out.

I just want to go get the W and then just have the judges give me the

win.

What do you think about that style versus the old school style?

That's where you lose fans.

Yeah, I can see that.

It's where the

brunt of

MMA was in that 2007,

from 4 to 2010.

That was like the heyday, 12.

And then the rest has just been pure marketing, just like more, oh, this is kind of cool.

Something to do on a Friday.

Yeah.

Something on a Saturday.

More casual.

Yeah,

that's where fights now are literally.

I think the UFC has fights every other weekend or at least three times a weekend or three times a month.

and then you might see one big fight once a month uh i think in pay-per-views once a month yeah now

but before i used to have to like i can't wait until you know december when the you know this cards you know kind of like boxing where boxing is

like you'll see ryan garcia might fight twice a year if that once

yeah same with canelo i think canelo only fights two three times a year max yeah so it's because if you

you saturate the market you're you're like, eh, I'll get the next one.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

I don't know how UFC has so many events.

I mean, it's crazy.

They've really grown into like an empire.

Yeah, well, it's because it's all about media.

It's more,

what can I watch on TV?

Right.

Yeah, during the pandemic, they crushed it.

They were the only thing on TV.

Because the only sports, the only, you know, because everybody's like,

you can't get that close, but we'll put you in a cage close to each other.

Yeah, I love that.

You still talk to Dana at all?

Yeah, still, still, you know, Dana and

everybody else, you know, it's, I mean, it's such a small world.

Yeah, especially in Vegas.

He lives out here.

Yeah.

You probably run into him all the time.

I saw you training with Sean Strickland.

Yep.

Just actually just trained with Sean just

20 minutes ago.

Oh, nice.

How long have you been training with him before he was champ?

Yeah,

when Sean came, moved out to Vegas to, you know, train to

because, you know, everybody, all the fight capital world.

Everybody at the over extreme extreme with Randy Kator's gym.

Got it.

I heard he's ruthless in training.

I heard he

could fight in training.

Yeah, no.

He was actually, he's actually one of the

first fighters that actually I respected because he'd go, no, I'm going to go hard.

And

when fighters go, hey, I'm going to go hard.

You kind of like, yeah.

And then especially when he's an 85-er, I was like, yeah, okay, you're going to go hard.

And then he actually went hard.

I was like, oh, okay, now I can go hard.

It's just, it just, but sometimes

boxing is different.

When you go to a boxing gym, you already figure someone's going to try to take your head off.

Yeah.

But in an MMA, usually trying to put your best foot forward, going, oh, are we going to work?

Are we, are we fighting?

Right.

And then if you know you're fighting, then you're just fighting.

So when you're sparring, are you going 100% when you're training?

No.

Like, the only time you spar like that is

when you have a fight coming up, and usually you fight like that maybe twice to three times.

Because Because you don't want to risk an injury, right?

It's not even the risk.

It's just,

you just can't do that to your system that much.

Yeah.

Like you have to, you know, train yourself to do it on, you know, in eight weeks.

And then, but if you do it constantly, then your nervous system goes to right.

Your body can only take so much damage, right?

It's not even the, it's more of the,

I guess,

I don't want to say, I would say mental.

I mean, just your yeah, because you're just frying your nerves.

Oh, wow.

I didn't even think about that.

It's not really taking the abuse.

Interesting.

It's

but training, you definitely you get hurt more, but it's when you,

I guess, when you're more half-fastened is usually when you, you know, like we hear people doing football or

when they're just not going 100%, that's usually when they get hurt.

That makes sense.

Who you got winning the McGregor Chandler fight coming up?

You know what?

It's a, they're at a higher weight.

And then plus,

I don't know.

The edge, if it depends if

Chandler wrestles.

If he wrestles, then it's gonna, I think it's a different, you know, bug in.

But

if it stays standing,

I don't see

Chandler taking too many, you know, because he's been in a lot of fights where he's been clipped because he'll, but he'll, the, the one thing is he'll definitely walk into that genre of trying to fight like that.

But that's not his forte.

Yeah, it's hard to be Connor standing.

I don't know if anyone's ever done that standing.

No, the because if you, if,

yeah, no, the only people like Poirier did,

um, oh, yeah, but his leg gave out, right?

But that was, uh, yeah, but it with Poirier, it's because he's a softball too.

Okay.

And

Nate

is softball.

Yeah.

So I think

anytime McGregor does somebody that's the same Southpaw as him, he has a problem because he doesn't see it a lot.

Yeah.

It's tough.

He's lost, I think, seven years straight now or something crazy like that.

So it's, but it's the, um,

what do you call it?

Uh, I want to say it's the southpaw.

I think that's his weakness.

Yeah.

Every fighter has a weakness, right?

Yeah, well, it's like, I hate southpaws myself.

So yeah, you don't like fighting them?

No, it's just, I don't mind fighting them.

It's just, it's one of those

you have to, it requires me to think.

You got to react quickly.

Versus like when you're,

you don't see self-pause as often.

Like, if, like, we're, it's like walking.

If you're like, oh, I'm always walking.

Yeah.

And then all of a sudden you got to, now you got to skip.

You're like, how do I skip again?

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

It's like a lefty pitcher in baseball, right?

You don't see it often.

If you, if you don't see it, then it's not, it throws your game off.

Yeah.

You're not used to it.

So that being said, who was the toughest opponent you faced that you had trouble figuring out?

I think the toughest opponent figured out would be like somebody like Cro Cop.

Okay.

Just like for him, it was because he's softball.

And man, and the difference is he runs from,

or he runs into your power.

That's scary.

Usually they go the opposite.

So it's a different type of beast where

if I've got a right hand and he's running to his, you know his right then i'm like okay get it but he's running to the you know his left into the power and you're like what do i throw what he set me up with yeah so you started thinking about it almost like mind games right yeah so that that's what i said it's more of a when you're doing the hardcore uh sparring it's more of a mental fry versus uh the physical right that's what people don't see in the ring the mental game the two fighters are playing that's the i think that's the big thing that a lot of people don't get right because you're planning counters you're planning your next move you're planning your stamina, how much energy you got left.

Yeah, if you're if you start thinking, it just you the whole thing is just to go out there and have fun on that night, okay.

So you're not really thinking like round by round, well

no, well, it depends on like if like

I've gotten in trouble when I started thinking like that, okay, because what I'm like, oh, okay, I'm gonna beat him in the second round, I'm gonna do this, but if I just go, I'm gonna do this and just leave it at that, then I'm always good.

Just more living in the moment.

Yeah.

Yeah.

Cause you can overanalyze and then get caught up in it.

You can think about something else over here.

And then you're like, oh, I got hit over here.

Yeah.

That makes sense.

Who's the, you probably get asked this a lot, but who's the goat, in your opinion?

I know Dana White has John Jones.

It's his.

Yeah, it depends on.

I think it on the goat, it depends on

what your,

I guess, your philosophy is.

If you're like, oh, well, I don't care if he did drugs or, you know, not drugs.

or, you know, like, so if that's your goat, then, um, or if you're like, okay, the best, guess, best guy that marketed would be

McGregor, you know what I mean?

Yeah.

But then you had the UFC behind, you know, so it's, it all depends on what you mean by.

Yeah, it's different categories.

Yeah.

If you're like, oh, the best jiu-jitsu guy, you know, would be like Damien Maya.

You know, like, so it'd be like

different guy or like somebody that never talked, you know, Fedor.

Yeah.

But then you're like,

it depends because he's like, he never fought in the UFC, you know.

Yeah.

Khabib, too, people say.

Would be, he'd be like a fedor, you know, and you just did let him.

But then you're like, well, did he, who did he fight?

And then you start, you know, picking and choosing.

But I think it comes down to as a fan, like, who'd you, you know, entertainment.

For entertainment, and for me, it was the heavyweights were my goats were Fedor, Crow Cup, and Big Nog.

Okay.

You know, and

those are my goats.

Yeah.

I got John john jones as mine and john jones would be the the next version of yeah like the you know if it wasn't for that drug thing i think it'd be obvious you know yeah well yeah

because like with john jones um

that's the only

you know that and and then the um his only one loss with uh

but he he should have won the i mean yeah but that's what i mean like that that's the one where you're like yeah okay downward elbow there you know, and then you're like, well, that's not what they mean by downward elbow.

So it's like, also, back then, wasn't it more common to do like enhancers?

It wasn't as checked?

Yeah, well, back in the day, you used to be able to, you know, do TRT and all this.

Yeah.

You know, all the different,

they didn't really check or care because fans didn't care.

So when did it start happening where they started drug testing and all that?

Oh, I think it was myself and BJ Penn um when we started doing uh it was called vada voluntary uh anti-doping oh you volunteered yeah it was because i i knew i was fighting all

the heavyweights i was fighting i already knew was juicing

so it was just basically let's let's do it let's do it and and so it was to take the

you know because i i'm a competitor yeah and i wanted to basically take the uh

you know mess with people's heads did that frustrate you knowing they were juicing and you were probably better than them

no

it just i think the frustration would be like

when people would pay or you know like uh the ufc would pay to for a guy that would be juicing more than

got it got it if i'm not if i know he's making a million dollars and i'm making ten thousand dollars you know then i'm like yeah oh it'd be that much of a difference yeah so that's that's why you're when you're when you're looking at the the numbers, you're like, I should get paid this.

Yeah.

At that point, I could see why.

It shouldn't be rewarded.

Yeah, yeah.

At that point, I could see why they were doing it then if it was that big of a pay job.

But that's the reason why they'd be like,

I get caught.

I mean, the best example would be Brock Lesnar fighting

Mark Hunt.

I think he got paid a couple million dollars

and then won the fight, but then lost the fight, but still wasn't really penalty.

You know what I mean?

Yeah.

What's the penalty if you get caught?

Is it a fine?

Yeah.

It's like

it would be like Chase Bank

or some

big bank

messing up with

gold or whatever on the stocks and going, oh, yeah, we made $2 billion, but yeah, we had a $10 million fine.

A little scratch.

You know what I mean?

It's like $10 million.

You're like, oh,

but you made $2 billion.

It's not the same.

Yeah, they just factor that into the P ⁇ L.

Right.

So you're like, I mean, you saw Garcia do it.

He was three pounds overweight.

He had to pay $1.5 million.

Right.

$500K for every pair of money.

But then he made.

He made $50, he said.

No, no, but

what did he make?

$15 million off of beta.

Off the bet and then $35 off the fight.

Yes.

Which is crazy at that age to be making money like that.

So you're like,

1.5.

It's like, what, 5% of what he made?

Yeah.

So you're like,

that's like camp.

Yeah, and they probably gave him a huge edge, three extra pounds in boxing.

Well, especially if you're a little guy.

Yeah.

Yeah.

If you're a big guy, that's not, you're like, eh, whatever.

Yeah.

Well, the knockout rate heavyweight is way higher, right?

Yeah, heavyweight, it's but

with little guys,

that weight, that's a water weight, they'll affect your brain.

So oh, really?

Yeah, so you get knocked out easier.

Oh, I didn't even think about that.

That's why like guys that cut a lot of weight, they tend to get dunked out a little bit more.

Interesting.

Wow, because yeah, your brain's holding all that water, right?

Well, it's the cushion.

Right.

Oh, sh.

Wow.

Yeah.

This is stuff people don't even think about as fans.

We're just watching people get knocked out.

Yeah, it's when you're like, ah, that guy, like,

think of like a 205 that used to cut a lot of weight.

You know what I mean?

Like for,

and if they cut a lot of weight and they used to be like 240 and then they cut down to 205, then they're the ones that tend to be more knocked out.

Damn, that's crazy.

Any upcoming fights you got?

No, actually, you know, right now I'm

going to head out and look and

look out this weekend.

We're going to go see BKFC

and

go watch those fights because those fights are actually very entertaining.

They are, yeah.

Because it's two minutes of rock'em sock'em.

You know, and then plus you got Mike Perry and

Diago Alvez.

They're fighting.

So I don't know when this is going to be air, you know, but it's a, it's actually a really decent card.

And I went out to one of their other BKFC fights up in Salt Lake.

And it was very entertaining.

They got, you know, fireworks.

It's kind of like a power slap.

Okay.

Power slap is different, man.

Would you ever do that for the right amount of money?

We were actually talking about it.

I'm like, yeah,

for the right amount of money, I would definitely do it.

100K.

Would you do it?

Hell no.

That's like, that's retarded.

No.

You know, they were getting nothing at first, right?

They still are.

I think they're getting 5K now, right?

Something like that.

That's still.

Yeah.

Well, it's relative, right?

So 5K for you is nothing, but for the

5K for anybody to punch you in the head.

Yeah.

I wouldn't do it.

I mean, I remember back in the 90s going, I would fight Mark Tyson for a million dollars.

You know, and that was.

In the 90s.

Yeah.

Yeah, he was different then.

Now Jay Paul's fighting him.

but you're like, yeah, but he's still fighting for more than a million dollars.

Yeah, and he's 60 now, so that's the big difference.

Lost some power for sure.

Yeah, I don't know.

Maybe would you do it for 500K?

No, we picked a number.

It had to be like, because there's no,

there's not an actual competition.

So it's like whoever gets the coin toss.

Yeah.

Like if I, if I get first coin toss every time,

then I'd do it all day.

I'll turn it a thousand bucks.

That's what I noticed because I went and whoever got got went first won like 80% of the time.

Yeah, so I would do that.

I would do that if I was the cointos.

Yeah.

Like they literally do that for $1,000.

I do that because I've been,

I got those every day.

They literally only lost if they miss hit, which happens too.

But those miss hits hurt because you get hit in the bone.

Yeah.

Have you seen those?

Well, the thing is, is like it's supposed to be fingertips, but then I know I would just always hit with my palm and what I'm going to do, get penalized.

Yeah.

Yeah, for real.

They're out by the time you get the penalty.

Right.

So you're like, that's why it doesn't, you know.

Yeah.

Yeah.

I don't think I'd ever do that one.

But boxing, I'd consider.

Boxing's a different one because, you know, you're playing with pillows.

Yeah.

You got, what, 12 ounces?

I mean, do you even feel it at that point?

Oh, yeah.

Oh, you do?

You definitely feel it, but it's the pitter pattern and then

like

with small guys, it's usually the pitter pattern.

Yeah.

Like it's the constant, you know, the head bobbing your head.

But with big guys, it's definitely 16 ounces, you know, hurts.

I feel like in boxing, I'd be nice because I'm only 180, but I'm six foot five.

So I'd have like six inches on any opponent.

Well, it depends on who's cutting weight.

Yeah, yeah.

But I'm pretty skinny for my size.

So I think I'd be decent.

We might have to start training.

If I get the right amount,

I mean, the reach definitely makes a big difference.

I mean, Jake Paul, look at him.

He's a short guy.

Is he?

Well, he's for

185, he's like everybody else.

But he's nice.

He's only lost once.

But he fought a boxer.

Yeah, he lost once to the boxer.

But he's got a good business model, you got to admit.

No,

I mean, the business model is

just watch.

That's the, I mean, it's just entertainment.

As long as you're, you know,

Pride did it.

Everybody's.

So would you consider him a real boxer or no?

Oh, yeah.

No, no.

he's because I've seen him train

by like

I don't want to say

true combat sports like so like I actually want to see him do I think he would do really well in MMA yeah just because he can wrestle okay yeah he was state champ in wrestling so that that's the part where I'm actually more intrigued than him fighting

I like the Mike Tyson you're the only reason why you're curious is because it's a good boxer with Tyson,

but then if you take his age, then you're like, I don't know if that, you know, if that's going to make any

he didn't look too good against the lust one he did, but I don't know if he was trying, honestly.

Tyson?

Yeah.

Did you see his last fight?

He fought Roy Jones Jr.

Yeah.

Yeah, but there are two

guys that are just

going out and getting paid.

Yeah, yeah, that was a payday.

I don't know.

I got Jake winning this.

I don't know about you, but I just think

he's got the edge.

But I don't, but how is he going to win, though?

Points?

Yeah, he won't knock him out, but I think he'll win.

Yeah,

and to have Tyson, to beat Tyson by points isn't really

does anything for your.

I feel that.

I feel that.

You ever want to get into boxing?

Oh, yeah.

That's like one of my

bucket lists.

Okay, so that's next.

That's on the list because right now I'm actually trying to

either get on the nate diaz uh masedal card or even uh jake's card i feel that who do you got winning the nate diaz masvidal fight

that one

definitely it's interesting it's um

i i don't i don't really have a

i just think it's gonna be a fun fight yeah because masvodal won the ufc match but nate i feel like is a better striker

and yeah

it's definitely an interesting matchup, especially with,

I think, their boxing styles

and how you block with the Pelos.

I feel that.

I don't know what weight they're using, but you ever have to take the fighting outside the ring, out on the street?

No, I want to get paid.

No one's ever tried you?

No, no, usually if I'm outside the

cage or the ring, it's usually someone trying to buy me a drink.

So

a good energy, yeah.

It's not a so you're not like McGregor just punching people at the bar.

No, nobody.

I mean, people want to fight him because it's his attitude.

Yeah, people like me.

I feel that.

Yeah, you were approachable at the poker event, you know?

It's about the energy you put off for sure.

I appreciate that.

What was your favorite league to fight in?

Because you fought in so many, you know, the

probably the best

league or the best, uh, I'd say, mental support was probably the IFL right before I went into the UFC.

Okay.

Only reason is because I would say that'd be more like the true like league style, kind of like an NFL or like a,

because I got paid a salary

just to train, and then I got paid to fight.

Okay.

So there was no like

So that wasn't like fighting where you're

relying on the well like hopefully I'm going to make enough money and then pay for my trainers.

And, you know, like where the other way where you already knew I could pay my trainers because I got this salary coming in.

Yeah.

And then the fighting part was the bonus.

That makes sense because you got a lot of expenses, right?

You got the training and fighting.

You got training.

Besides training, you got your, you pay for your coaches, sparring partners.

Oh, you pay the sparring partners too?

When you get a little bit higher up.

Oh, okay.

I didn't know that.

Well, and think of like boxing boxing they do i got it got it uh in mma the only time you don't is uh

is you're like well when do you have a fight coming up you have a fight coming up okay well let's train together you know yeah yeah and try to work has to align yeah and the diet and the recovery um diet recovery um that's why the ufc does like you know with their

uh

the training center yeah where they're like that place nice how we take we take care of you it's so that you don't have to worry about some of this the the stuff that you think start thinking about yeah that place is nice i went there i saw the cryo room and the hot tub room it's pretty cool cold and hot bath yeah you do that you do that every day the cold stuff i just took a cold bath but i did the old fashioned way tub ice water yeah yeah there's some fancy stuff these days how many minutes you last uh i usually do 15.

damn That is insane, dude.

You got some mental resilience.

Like I said, but it's only once a week.

Once a week.

Oh, once a week, still 15 minutes.

God damn.

What temperature?

Uh, 39.

Oh, my gosh, that is crazy, dude.

You probably had to build up to that, though.

No, it's

you're a fighter, you just do it.

Yeah, that's probably the easy part for you.

It's the well, because you just got done sparring, so you're like, hey, what's the, it doesn't get worse than that.

Yeah.

What's the worst injury you've had?

Worst injury

ever had

probably the worst is breaking both my hands

when I fought Big Nug.

In one fight?

Holy crap.

His body was just tough.

His face was.

He has metal plates in his face.

Oh, that's not fair.

So you're literally punching metal.

So

that's probably the worst because then it happened in Abu Dhabi.

Then I had to travel

over.

And that.

That's probably the worst is because then I didn't get it fixed until I got back home.

Oh, man.

Did you know he had metal in his face?

Not until when we did x-rays.

Holy crap.

I'd be pissed.

Because your hands wouldn't have broken if he didn't.

Well, yeah, no, yeah.

It was one of those things that it hurt and then, but, you know.

Did you ever feel like it fully recovered?

Yeah, well, actually, I took

a fight.

literally when I still had pins in my hand.

So.

Jeez.

Yeah, because sometimes you're just training on stop and you never fully recover.

And then, yeah, no, it was that.

And then, you know, when the UFC calls, you just say, Yeah, sure, I'll take the fight.

Yeah, do they give you a heads up when they call or no?

No, I literally, they're like, Well, do you will take the fight?

And I'm like, I'll take the fight.

I just let you know I still have pins in my hand.

So it was like a few weeks before.

No, it was like

I had pins.

I couldn't make a fist.

I remember, I think three weeks, four weeks before.

Holy.

I finally got a...

Four weeks before the fight, I could make a fist.

Not.

Which fight was up?

Mark Hunt.

Did you end up winning?

No.

That doesn't surprise me.

Couldn't even do a fist four weeks before?

Yeah, but

that wasn't the reason why I lost that fight.

Oh, really?

No, I lost the fight because in my head, I was like, oh, I got this.

I got this.

I got this one.

Little ego?

Yeah, because first round, I got

took it and got taken down.

And then I was like, okay, I already pictured what I was going to do.

And then I got poked in the eye, and then I couldn't see.

And then I was like, okay, but I still got it.

Okay, I figured it out.

And then I wasn't, you know,

paid attention.

Then I got hit.

Crazy how a little eye poke can change the momentum of a fight.

Eye poke and then just that mental just of going, oh, okay, I got this.

Yeah, ego, man.

It's like some people's greatest enemy.

Yes, sir.

Any other fights you lost that you feel like you you could have won?

Oh, I

see the problem thing.

You're asking a fighter and the fighter will be like, oh, I could have won all.

It's like you go to jail and you're like, I'm innocent.

Yeah.

For sure.

Yeah, you probably can analyze it and just realize what you did wrong.

Yeah, because

I've never been in a fight where at the end of the day, I was like, dude, that guy was so much better than me.

Oh, really?

Never.

Because you fought DC, you fought some big nations.

Yeah, like, even when I fought fought DC, I was, even, I was like, oh, man, I should have wrestled.

I should have done this.

I could have done this.

It wasn't a, oh, he was so like, there's so much here, you know, and there.

You know, it wasn't, it wasn't, I've never been in that

thought process of where, and I don't know if that's from being a fighter or what, what it was, but never been in that, you know, process where I'm like, that guy was just so good.

Yeah.

Well, I feel like at your skill level and your weight class, any one punch can just end it.

So true.

I've been the opposite where I'm like, dude, I fight that guy all day long with broken arm, no arm.

Yeah, yeah, that makes sense.

Dang.

Are you like accepting of the losses, or do some of them still eat at you, though?

I, any loss is uh, you know, it eats at me.

Um, but like, that's why I always go, I'll fight you again.

And then they say no, yeah, so

then I already know I already won.

Yeah, you won the mental battle.

I love that, dude.

What do you got coming up next?

And uh, where can people find out more about what you got up on RoyNelson.com?

Uh, and then on any of the social Roy Nelson in the May.

And uh, but right now, just you know, bucket list stuff, whatever pops up.

I love it, living spontaneously.

I love it.

Let's do it, man.

Thanks for coming on.

I appreciate you having me.

Thanks for watching, guys, as always.

See you tomorrow.