After his win this weekend Gunnar Nelson became the easy choice for our Hero of the Week, plus we’ve also seen him fighting on our shores a fair bit.
The sensation from Iceland, Gunnar “Gunni” Nelsen has been raising plenty of eyebrows with his performances in the Ultimate Fighting Championship so far, as he still holds an undefeated record at 2-0.
His overall record in MMA is also hugely impressive, with 11 wins and just one draw, which came in his debut fight as a pro. His prowess has been his ground fighting, winning a fair few of his fights with submission manoeuvres, although it would be unfair to say that’s his only strength.
His intensity and his quickness mean that he’s won eight of his ten fights as a pro in the first round, catching his opponents off guard early on. Once he’s given half an opportunity, he’ll take it without needing to be asked twice.
Nelson has also fought in Ireland frequently enough thanks to the fact that his trainer, John Kavanagh, is Irish, which has seen Gunni fight in both Dublin and Galway. Kavanagh has since relocated to Iceland to help Gunnar train for his UFC bouts, simply for a change of scenery rather than abandoning Ireland altogether.
At just 24, Nelson already has a great wealth of experience despite having been out of the sport for nearly two years to concentrate on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, which he was awarded in 2009 during his break away from MMA.
His most recent fight, at the UFC on Fuel TV event in London last weekend, saw him taking on an opponent with a wealth of experience in Jorge Santiago. Once again, Nelson rose to the new challenge, and was victorious adding another win to his already fantastic record.
While he won this by decision, it was first fight that went three rounds in the UFC, so he may still have some work to do before he takes another step up.
Dana White has stated that he doesn’t want to rush Gunni into anything, but there might be a title fight on the horizon for the honorary Irishman if he keeps up his superb record to date. Besides, there’s only one letter in the difference between Iceland and Ireland anyway.
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