Gunnar Nelson Claims Jorge Masvidal Declined To Fight Him
Gunnar Nelson claims in a recent interview that he was finding it hard to get an opponent for his next fight. One of those contenders that he was down to fight was Jorge Masvidal. However, he was one of the fighters that turned down the opportunity to take the fight.
Nelson is scheduled to face Alex Oliveira at UFC 231. This event pay-per-view is set to take place on Saturday, December 8, 2018, at Scotiabank Arena in Toronto, Ontario, Canada.
Nelson’s Claims
The longtime UFC star opened up on the situation in a recent interview. This is where he claimed that he was looking for a ranked opponent. However, Masvidal wasn’t interested in making the fight happen.
“They said Masvidal first,” Nelson said on the latest episode of Eurobash. “They did throw a few names out there. But I didn’t see a lot, but obviously I just wanted to get a ranked opponent if possible. Masvidal said ‘no’, I think he’s going down to lightweight or something.”
Now, with his next fight lined up, he’s just happy to have an opponent in place no matter who he’s fighting.
“[Masvidal] said ‘no’ anyway, we did expect that, but I was very happy that I got Alex Oliveira. Because I think he’s ranked one above me and he’s a great fighter. I was expecting that it might be someone that’s unranked. I would have taken it to be honest because at this stage I just want to get in there. It didn’t really matter who it was for me. I just told my team, ‘Tell me who I’m fighting and I’ll be ready’.”
Nelson has not been seen in the Octagon since he suffered a first-round knockout loss to Santiago Ponzinibbio in the main event of the UFC Fight Night 113 event in Scotland last July.
Changing Times
At the end of the day, he understands the reasons for the fight not happening. However, that hasn’t stopped his belief in how fighters approach competing inside of the Octagon these days.
“It’s definitely changed,” said Nelson (H/T to MMAfighting). “People are choosing and picking a lot more than they were. There are a lot more people thinking about what they are gaining from it. How much of a risk it is compared to those gains. I understand that. It’s probably a lot of the management that take care of that stuff. It is what it is. I’ll stick to my ways.”
