Las Vegas, NV — One of a small contingent of Canadian fighters in action at Noche UFC is Kyle Nelson, with “The Monster” looking for back-to-back wins under the UFC banner for the first time.
That will be no easy feat, with Nelson (14-5-1) fighting Mexico’s Fernando Padilla on a card celebrating Mexican Independence Day. As it turns out, however, Nelson has some relevant experience in that area.
“I fought on UFC Mexico against a Mexican fighter, Polo Reyes, so I walked out to probably the most Mexican crowd you can get,” Nelson noted during Wednesday’s Noche UFC media day. “And they were all cheering for my opponent and booing me and stuff, but what I found is once I got in the octagon and finished Polo pretty early on, I won over all the Mexican fans.”
That fight came in 2019, with Nelson claiming the win via TKO.
“I think they’re big combat sports fans, and they appreciate people who go out and put on a show and really fight. So I think even though they may not be my fans right now, after the fight they’re definitely going to be Kyle Nelson fans.”
Huntsville, Ontario’s Nelson feels the match-up with Padilla is a solid one. “Him being young and hungry and just getting into the UFC, I think it’s going to make for a good match-up.”
Nelson recently posted a behind the scenes look at him and his boys, who are too young yet to fully understand what their father does for a living, on Instagram. Asked by Cageside Press what fight he was most looking forward to sharing with them when they’re older, Nelson said it wasn’t necessarily a fight that he wanted them to see, but the effort.
“I think as they learn to understand what I do for a living, it’s not even going to be necessarily even one of my performances that I look forward to sharing with them the most. I think it would be the hard work and perseverance that I’ve put into my career,” Nelson explained.
“It’s one thing to see kind of what I do in the cage for whatever, 10, 15 minutes. They’re going to get to be behind the scenes and a part of a lot of my training camps and see how hard I work. And if I can instill some of that work ethic and the ability to overcome adversity and stuff like that, I’d much prefer them to learn that from me than just be excited that ‘oh hey, my dad’s on T.V.'”
Watch the full Noche UFC media day appearance by Kyle Nelson above.
