UFC welterweight Gunnar Nelson has told that he “could make the lightweight limit easily” but refuses to starve himself, insisting that a happy fighter is a better fighter.
The Icelander revealed that he has studied his first career loss to Rick Story and “needs to get started quicker in fights” and expects to be back in action in late February, early March 2015.
He also urged fans to attend the Stockholm event on Jan 24, citing the Swedish fans as amongst the best in the world at creating an atmosphere.
“I could easily make lightweight,” Nelson disclosed to Telegraph Sport. “Compared to my team-mates and what they have to go through to make weight, it would be easy for me. But I enjoy eating and I'd rather do that than starve myself,” he explained.
Nelson has studied his first career loss to American Rick Story in the headline event in Sweden in October. He has learnt much from it.
“I watched the fight the night we got back. That's the only time I watched the fight. Other than that it's just been trying to learn from my experience – what I remember and what I felt like.
“In this fight I felt like I could've been moving more freely in general. I was a bit restrained and that was down to me. I was stopping myself from moving certain ways.
“I don't think it was because he drew me in to a brawl. I didn't feel like I wanted to punch him in the face more than I want to punch anyone else.
“Maybe I just haven't been focused enough on the freedom of my movement, as I always have been. That's something I took from that fight – don't forget where you came from, don't forget your roots."
Nelson gets in to the detail. “It's about the very core of your individual movements. It's about how your body moves freely and in any direction at any point. It's how you find your own balance.
“If you don't have that, everything else will fail slowly. If you have that, everything you're talking about will come to you and you'll find it. It will be there.
“I think I could have engaged in to this a little bit earlier and a few fights ago. You don't always feel great in your fights but you get through it. This time I lost.
“Maybe it was what I needed to wake me up. I think regardless of whether I got the decision or not, the way the fight went and the way I felt in this fight was not the ideal fight for someone like me.
“You want to mix it up better, you don't just want to go to war. You want to finish the fight. But sometimes it is like this – this is the sport. I'll be back.”
“You've got to move your own way and not get caught up in any set rhythms that the other guy is putting in front of you. You've got to move your own way – that's what I mean by moving freely.
“He's been doing this for a long time and, if you look at his fights, a lot of them have been like this. He gets fighters to fight his fight. He's very good at this. That was something I was experiencing for the first time. It's all an experience.”
“I'll be back at the end of February or beginning of March, somewhere around then. That's my plan.”
Nelson might have lost in Stockholm, but he revelled in the atmosphere. He believes the Scandinavians will light up the 30,000 Tele2 Arena when local favourite Alexander Gustafsson goes to war against American Anthony Johnson in the main event.
“Fans should definitely jump on this if they get the chance. Make a trip of it. Go and see it. It's going to be an awesome thing to go to. Going to the UFC is so fun, there's so much energy.
“You enjoy yourselves. A lot of my friends, people back home, they go to the UFC to watch the fights and they all say it's a unique thing.
“They never could've imagined it being quite what it was. After that they start watching the UFC a lot more on TV. It draws them in. It's hard to explain if you've never been, but I'd definitely recommend it. This event is going to be huge.”
Gunnar Nelson 'could make lightweight easily'
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