Isländske welterviktaren Gunnar Nelson har blivit känd för sin brottning, men har den senaste tiden även visat att han har bra striking.
Efter den första förlusten i karriären då han mötte Rick Story vaknade Nelson upp och bestämde sig då för att förbättra sin boxning.
Det här berättade Nelson, via ”Three Amigos ”Podcast”:
Yeah, that definitely woke me up. I feel like I have been sleeping for a while, and that was definitely one of things that woke me up and got me back on track. It was a tough fight, and there were a lot of things to take from that, technically. I appreciate all those things and I’m working on them. I think that was the perfect fight for me to have at this stage of my career, because it really helped me grow, and not only from the technical side of things, it woke me up mentally.
Gunnar delar upp sin träning mellan SBG Ireland och Mjölnir MMA hemma i Island. Mjölnir flyttade nyligen till en ny lokal som använts som bowlinghall och är nu ett av de största gymmen för kampsport.
Mjölnir kommer även att ha en egen bar med ladies night. MMA växer snabbt i landet och med en bar kommer klubben även bli en plats för socialt umgänge.
MMA has been blowing up in Iceland for the last couple years. We only recently moved to a different place, which we called, ”The Castle.” It was that big. Shortly after, we had to move again, and now we’re moving into the Palace.
This place is something else. I think it’s going to be one of the nicest gyms in the world, and when you consider just the MMA gyms, this is probably going to be the nicest one. It’s going to take some time to set up, but I think it will be ready for this next summer.
There’s going to be a very old-school, Icelandic, Nordic-style bar. The name doesn’t really translate well to English, but the word I’m talking about basically means, ”Odin’s Drinking Room.” It’s going to be really old-school, with everything made out of wood, big barrels that the beer comes out of… it’s gonna look nice. It’s not your typical karaoke bar.
Förra månaden träffade Nelson tillsammans med Conor McGregor den isländske styrkelyftaren och skådespelaren Hafthor Julius Björnsson, som blivit mycket känd i sin roll som ”The Mountain” i serien ”Game of Thrones”. McGregor och Björnsson hamnade då nästan i en bare-knuckle match med varandra:
He’s a good guy. He wanted to come see us train and hang out a little bit. We went to dinner afterwards. I know him a little bit from Iceland.
Him and Conor were gonna do a little photo-op together. Conor starts bouncing around. Then he starts bouncing around. Then they get into this little scrap. It was this playful, fun thing, but it got a little serious there for a bit. They had their little scrap, and then it was just a bunch of laughing and fun.
Nelson mötte senast mot Brandon Thatch under UFC 189 då han segrade via submission. Han står nu med 14 vinster och 1 förlust.
