Roy Nelson On Why He Fought Through Illegal Knees At Bellator 207

In an interview with MMA Junkie, Roy Nelson spoke about taking illegal knees at Bellator 207 and why he kept fighting through them. Here are highlights:

On hearing the referee’s discussion with the doctor: “He pretty much told the doc they weren’t that hard. I was pretty much telling him, ‘I got hit with two illegal knees.’ We actually talked in the back and he actually explained the new rules here where you have to have two fists down, not one. I had one fist down and got hit in the head, I put two fists down and got hit in the head, then I put a knee down and got hit in the head. I kind of went through the whole pattern to make sure the ref could do his job. Dan Miragliotta was saying, they weren’t that hard. Dan said they weren’t. That’s what they told the doc. I kind of went off that, so that’s why I ended up continuing.”

On not being all there: “I was seeing stars. I got up a little wobbly, but then when I’m arguing with the ref telling me that I didn’t get hit that hard, then I’m like, ‘Eh.’ I can’t take anything away. Sergei – the fight ended – I thought we were going to go to Round 2. I thought I made it all the way. I heard the last 10 seconds, and I was just waiting for the flurry. Next thing I know it was called off and apparently there was only one second left. I was waiting for Round 2 to kind of regroup to carry on.”

On how much time he has left: “I got a lot of fights. I’ve got (Quinton) ‘Rampage’ (Jackson). I heard (Bellator President) Scott (Coker) wants me to fight Cheick Kongo. There’s Matt Mitrione still. I’ve got unfinished business with him. You’ve got Fedor (Emelianenko), because I would like to fight him because I’ll be the only guy that beat all three from (Mirko) Cro Cop to (Antonio) ‘Big Nog’ (Rodrigo Nogueira) and then Fedor – the legends of the heavyweight, I’m fighting.”