London – It’s one thing to be out of fighting due to lack of opponents, not wanting to fight, or just waiting for the right fight. Being out due to injury however leaves a fighter feeling helpless as the rest of the combat sports world continues to move on.
UFC welterweight Gunnar Nelson returned from a near 3-year absence to take on Takashi Sato at UFC London on Saturday night. Nelson (18-5) earned a unanimous decision win over Sato.
“I felt good. I feel very good. I’ve been saying this week even though I’ve been away for two-and-a-half years everything seemed, feels, so familiar. It’s kind of like meeting an old friend after many many years you’ve known, it’s just the same. You meet them and it’s just the same as it was before. Even more this time I felt like, I don’t know if that’s the case or if that was just me this time around, but I think the vibe here behind The O2 was very calm and everybody was quite chill backstage. I really enjoyed it and obviously I enjoyed walking in, in front of the crowd, and getting this win for sure,” Nelson told reporters at his post-fight scrum.
Returning to action with the fans in attendance and after such a long layoff had Nelson thinking about the atmosphere of the event.
“It was amazing. It always is. I’m very happy I’m here in the first, this is the first time in London since…yeah, it’s always a crazy crowd isn’t it? I love it,” said Nelson.
As for what is next for the man who just made his return to MMA? Santiago Ponzinibbio.
“Yeah of course, I’ve said that many times and I can say it again. If I can pick it’ll be him.”
Watch the full UFC London post-fight press scrum with Gunnar Nelson above. More coverage from the event can be found below.
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Muhammad Mokaev
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Elise Reed
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Jack Shore
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Paul Craig
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Makwan Amirkhani
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Sergei Pavlovich
