What’s the story?
Ultimate Fighting Championship’s (UFC) favourite pot-bellied fighter is going at it again with ‘Big’ John McCarthy. Only this time, he is the one on the receiving end of the push kick.
Back in September 2016, Nelson took on Brazilian Heavyweight (HW/265 pound) slugger Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in a three round fight. Nelson caught Silva with a huge right uppercut in round 2.
However, the referee for that fight, John McCarthy, urged Nelson to follow-up on his opponent with ground strikes and finish the fight. Nelson hesitated for a bit, but then followed up with some ground and pound and knocked Silva out cold.
After McCarthy finally pulled Nelson off of Silva, Nelson was visibly upset with how long McCarthy let the fight go on. He went on to give McCarthy the finger. Furthermore, when McCarthy was bent over and checking on Silva, on the mat, Nelson hit McCarthy with a push kick.
In case you didn’t know:
Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson (22-13) is one of the most popular UFC HW fighters of all time. Despite being inconsistent, Nelson is a fan favourite owing to his high-risk style of fighting.
Nelson and his Brazilian opponent Silva are good friends outside the Octagon, having trained together on several occasions. There is a tremendous amount of mutual respect between the two HW sluggers.
Nelson and Silva, being the true professionals that they are, gave it all in the two rounds of their HW slugfest in Brazil.
Also read: Top 5 Punchers in the UFC Today
On the other hand, John McCarthy is one of the most well-known Mixed Martial Arts (MMA) referees. McCarthy is also one of the pioneers of the MMA game, as we know it today.
His critical insight into the sport of MMA and valuable feedback played a major role in shaping up the unified rules of MMA. McCarthy is considered to be one of the best referees in the sport of MMA, alongside Herb Dean, Marc Goddard and a few others.
The heart of the matter:
The entire push-kick fiasco that took place in September of last year, resulted in a nine-month suspension for Nelson and a $24,000 fine. Nelson’s suspension is retroactive, therefore, he can return to the Octagon in June of this year.
As of now, it seems as if Nelson and McCarthy have put the entire fiasco behind themselves. Nelson posted a mock video of McCarthy push-kicking him in the same way that he kicked McCarthy, on Facebook.
Both McCarthy and Nelson have participated in the funny video in order to make light of what was an unnecessary and unethical confrontation inside the Octagon. McCarthy and Nelson have obviously made-up with each other on their past differences.
What’s next?
As of now, Nelson seems to be stuck at the lower rung of the UFC HW division. ‘Big Country’ is tough as nails, but the blueprint to beat him has been out for years. Stay clear of his right hand and keep him at the end of your strikes.
Outworking Nelson has proved to be the best strategy to beat him, as Nelson is insanely tough to finish. Nelson has never been submitted in pro MMA competition. Besides, in a division full of knockout artists, Nelson has only been knocked out twice.
Now, Nelson may not challenge for the UFC HW title, but he still has enough steam left to give the top 5-15 a decent fight. Besides, if his bazooka of a right-hand lands, it is lights out for almost any man on the planet.
On the other hand, John McCarthy still remains one of the best referees in the sport.
One can say that the Nelson vs Silva stoppage was a bit late. However, referee errors in any sport are not unheard of. That said, in MMA, referee errors can prove to be dangerous and at times, fatal for the fighters.
Regardless, McCarthy continues officiating several MMA as well as kickboxing bouts, on a regular basis.
Sportskeeda’s Take:
Nelson is a good MMA fighter. However, his lack of discipline in training and diet have spoilt his chances of bagging gold in the UFC HW division. Although Nelson may be a bit one-dimensional in his stand-up, he has excellent Brazilian Jiu Jitsu (BJJ) skills.
His poor conditioning is something that hampers his performances and depletes his endurance, due to which the exhibition of his overall MMA skills remains incomplete. Nevertheless, Nelson and only Nelson is at fault for that.
His lazy and indisciplined approach to the sport of MMA should serve as a cautionary tale to aspiring fighters. He has an excellent sense of timing and distance and could have achieved so much more in his MMA career.
If only he had more discipline, Big Country could have been the next big thing years ago. But now, that time has passed.
As far as the push-kick controversy is concerned, it was an immature act on the part of Nelson. He has been rightfully fined and suspended for disrespecting the in-fight referee and for violating the basic rules and decorum of the sport of MMA.
That said, all seems to be well and good between Nelson and McCarthy right now. And for us MMA fans, it is nice to see the two of them bury the hatchet and move on.
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