Kyle Nelson spent the early part of his career bouncing back and forth between lightweight and featherweight. However, when he made the transition to the UFC, he looked to make a permanent home, and a run to the top, at featherweight. After missing weight down at 145lbs and losing to highly touted Steve Garcia, he decided to head back home to 155lbs – and the change has been great for him.
“I felt great. I mean, some of the biggest takeaways are the training camps and stuff and being able to feel better through the training camp,” Nelson explained. “Then the weight cut – I probably still cut a similar amount of water and stuff like that. But I feel like 145lbs, sometimes, I would end up being a little bit malnourished going into the fight because you’ve only got like the 24 hours to rehydrate.”
While the Garcia fight may have been the final nail in the coffin, Nelson noted that there had been some signs that it was time prior. He pointed back to some fights in which he wasn’t quite himself as the fight progressed.
“I feel like that’s stuff that’s kind of showed its head in like the Billy Quarantillo fight and some of the fights where I was doing great for the first few minutes,” he said. “Then lend of the first, beginning of the second, just seemed like my body kind of shut down on me. So at 155, I don’t think we’ll have that problem.”
With any change in division, there is the question of where the fighter will fit in. Nelson was initially worred that he would be treated like a newcomer in his new (old) division. After a pair of bookings, he was relieved to see that wasn’t the case.
“I felt like moving up to a new weight class, I almost felt like I was starting at the bottom again,” Nelson said. “Then to get to like Matt Frevola, who I had seen and heard his name and watched him fight and stuff like that, I was like, oh, like I’m, you know, I’m not kind of starting at the bottom again. And same with the [Terrance] McKinney fight.”
And that McKinney fight may just be his ticket to the top 15. He sees this not only as a fight where he can pick up a big name win, but one with some emphasis.
“I think it’s kind of a 50-50, whether it’s gonna be first round, I tag him early as he’s coming in really wild and with his chin up and his hands down,” he said. “Or I think beginning of the second, he’s gonna start to slow down. I’m gonna be picking it up even more, but either way, I think it’s gonna be a knockout.”
You can see Nelson’s fght with Terrance McKinney on the main card of UFC Seattle. The fight card begins at 5pm EST on Paramount+ this Saturday.
