Roy Nelson recently signed with Bellator MMA after a long stint in the UFC, where he fought a total of 19 times.
The fighter never got a shot at the UFC Heavyweight Title, but that may have been for the best since he believes the UFC belts are meaningless anyway.
“The one thing I’ve learned is I’ve gotten beat damn pretty hard with the UFC, where I learned that the belt – I used to love that belt,” Nelson said to MMA Junkie. “The belts actually meant something. But what I learned about the UFC is that UFC belts don’t mean (expletive). And I mean it doesn’t mean (expletive). The reason why is you can come off losses, you can move up four weights, you can be whatever. ‘Oh, we’ve got super fights’ and (expletive) like that. Or, ‘I’m a three-time champion.’ I’m a lightweight and heavyweight and whatever you want to call it and be like, they can make up titles and do whatever.”
Nelson makes his promotional debut later this month at Bellator 183, facing Javy Ayala in the co-main event of the show.
Despite a long history with the UFC, the newest Bellator MMA roster member is excited to be with a new promotion.
“As soon as I signed with Bellator, that very day, there was definitely an excitement and a relief where you’re just like, ‘I can’t wait to get out there and do this,'” Nelson said.
Bellator 183 takes place on Saturday, September 23 from the SAP Center in San Jose, California with Ben Henderson and Patricky Freire headlining. Fightful is providing live coverage of the event, which airs live on Spike TV.
