Six fights into his UFC career, Kyle Nelson was not on solid ground with his employer. He has managed just one win in those first six fights. Even with as exciting and close as he was having, it’s hard to keep your position in the world’s largest promotion with results like that. However, Nelson has made the best of his chances since then.
After making some changes, Nelson has rattled off two straight wins and now looks for a third at UFC Atlantic City. He says that those changes started even earlier than the results though.
“I think the turnaround kind of started in London with Jai Herbert. I went to three rounds – I kind of thought I got the better of him in that one,” Nelson explained. “Then I went back down to 145lbs against Do Ho Choi and was able to get the three rounds in… getting in there and fighting the three rounds and proving that I could do it now that we’ve dialed in my weight cut and weight management.”
Getting his weight under control has given him more energy in the cage. However, that’s not the most important aspect of what the changes have done for him. Not only is he able to do more, but he has the confidence to do it – and that has made all the difference.
“It gave me the confidence to put my foot on the gas pedal a little bit more in the fights. You’ve seen that escalate in my last two fights,” he said. “You’re going to see it even more in this one. My cardio is better than ever. We got the weight cut down.”
He plans to use that cardio as a weapon as he takes on Bill Algeo this weekend. He feels the new and improved version is going to get that elusive second UFC finish.
“We’re going to see an early second round TKO,” Nelson proclaimed confidently.
He’ll attempt to make that a reality at UFC Atlantic City which airs on ESPN. His fight with Algeo be featured as part of the main card starting at 10pm EST.
You can hear the entire audio of this interview at 32:53.
