Canadian featherweight Kyle Nelson has gone all the way from small town Ontario to the UFC, a journey that landed him on the historic Noche UFC last month.
Fresh off a win in Las Vegas over Fernando Padilla, Huntsville, Ontario’s “The Monster” called for a fight with UFC legend Cub Swanson.
Of course, we all know what happened the last time Swanson fought in Toronto. That resulted in a Hall of Fame scrap with South Korea’s Doo-Ho Choi widely considered one of the best featherweight fights of all time.
“That’s one of the reasons why I kind of chose him,” Nelson (15-5-1) told Cageside Press this week, adding that their styles could result in another Hall of Fame performance. Plus, it’s time for the 32-year old to begin climbing the divisional ladder. “My last two fights I’ve been fighting kind of up-and-comers, guys that were new to the UFC with a lot of hype, undefeated or on a big streak. I just want to start climbing the ranks a little bit, and I think getting a fight with a UFC legend like Cub will help do that.”
With the UFC circling a Toronto date (more on that in a bit), the match-up felt perfect. But Swanson announced hours after our conversation with Nelson that while he was offered a fight in Toronto, he was forced to turn it down, as he’s going under the knife this coming Monday.
Luckily, Nelson has a plan B.
“There’s Nate ‘The Train’ Landwehr. I think he’s another guy that, he’s been in the UFC a little bit, obviously not as long as Cub or anything but he comes to fight, puts on fireworks, and again he’s not a brand new guy coming into the UFC,” Nelson said, when asked who he might choose were Cub not available. “So that might be somebody that, outside the top 15 the UFC doesn’t really rank, but maybe somebody I’m closer to in ranking.”
It’s certainly a match-up brimming with Fight of the Night potential, especially with a hot crowd behind it. Something Nelson, fighting at home, would have. And he’s willing to wait a few extra months to make it happen.
“Yeah 100%. If the UFC isn’t going to come to Toronto, although it definitely seems like they’re leaning that way, I would rather even fight in December or get something a little bit sooner. But if they’re going to come into Canada, I don’t mind waiting an extra month or two to get the opportunity to fight in basically what would be my home town of Toronto— it’s kind of the closest thing to Huntsville the UFC is ever going to be coming to.”
Multiple sources have since confirmed to Cageside Press that UFC 297 on January 20, 2024 is the anticipated date for the UFC’s return to Toronto, where it has not appeared since December 2018. That night in Toronto happened to be Nelson’s UFC debut, thought it did not get his way. But Kyle Nelson, who also trains at House of Champions in Stoney Creek, splitting his time between southern Ontario and his hometown, now has a taste for winning at home. The first victory of his current two-fight win streak came this past June in Vancouver at UFC 289, a unanimous decision victory over Blake Bilder.
“It was great. And it was one of the opportunities— my first fight was in Toronto, but it was on short notice, a couple of days, so I didn’t really get to absorb any of that. And then same with the fight in Ottawa, it kind of felt like it just kind of rushed by,” recalled Nelson. “Whereas this fight, I was able to take my time. We did the ceremonial weigh-in and stuff like that, I got to meet a lot of fans at the hotel during Fight Week then obviously after the fight and stuff. But I definitely got the opportunity to kind of take it in a little bit more and definitely enjoy it.”
“I think it was definitely one of my best, my biggest wins so far, not just being a win but being a win in Canada, and getting to enjoy it with all the fans.”
Watch our full interview with Canadian UFC featherweight Kyle Nelson above.
