Roy Nelson was scheduled to headline the Bellator 200 card against Mirko Cro Cop in a fight to determine the alternate for the Bellator World Heavyweight Grand Prix.
However, a knee injury to Cro Cop caused the bout to get canned, but Nelson has been rewarded because he has been named the official alternate for the grand prix.
“Yeah. I mean, to me, Roy is the guy, now. So, if he gets the spot by default, that’s what it is. Roy will move forward in the tournament if someone else can’t make it,” Bellator MMA President Scott Coker said in an interview with Gareth Davies.
Nelson had already competed in the grand prix, suffering a decision loss to Matt Mitrione in the opening round.
Coker doesn’t plan on having Nelson sit around and do nothing in the future because he plans on keeping the heavyweight contender busy.
“It’s always a tough situation We wanted to put that fight together, and that was something that was on top of the Gegard fight we originally had on 200. This was going to be a spectacular card and I still think it is going to be an amazing fight card with Gegard and Carvalho and MVP and just all the great fighters we have, but unfortunately, Mirko tore his knee. He’s out, so Roy will not have a fight on Friday. We will sit down with Roy after this fight [card] and we’ll get him re-booked and we’ll get him busy again,” says Coker.
An alternate can only be used in the grand prix if one of the four remaining fighters are unable to continue on, due to such things as injuries and the such.
