Roy Nelson stalks his way to decision win over Jared Rosholt
For three rounds, Roy Nelson walked, and sometimes chased, Jared Rosholt down. Overall, the fight was close and cautious, with sprints big strike exchanges.
In the end, however, Nelson's aggressiveness was rewarded with a unanimous decision victory by the judges. Scores were 30-27 (twice), and 29-28 for Nelson.
The UFC Fight Night co-main event began with Nelson taking the center of the cage and walking Rosholt backwards, stance low on guard for takedown attempts fromt he former collegiate wrestling All-American, and the rear uppercut cocked and ready to go to counter. Though Rosholt looked uncomfortable on his feet against the long-time top contender, he still managed to use his quickness to make sure it was his punches that stung sharpest.
Rosholt countered a lunging Nelson with a big punch that wobbled Nelson, for a moment. Undeterred, Nelson continued to stalk the rising, young contender.
Though he faked feinted in the first, Rosholt didn't attempt a full-on takedown until the opening moments of the second period. Nelson kept his hips away enough to defend and continued to try and corner Rosholt with his footwork.
On one such retreat, Rosholt had his lead leg smacked with a kick. A left hook to the head landed soon after for Nelson, before Rosholt quickly got off the fence and forced Nelson to cover up with a head-punch combo.
The rest of the round saw the two big men trade strikes, with Nelson landing his left hook and Rosholt scoring with kicks, his jab, and his right hand.
The heavyweights continued to circle one another patiently in the final round, until Nelson attempted a takedown attempt. Rosholt defended well and soon landed a stiff left hook to the jaw.
Nelson continued to chase Rosholt and landed his own left hook and right hand tot he head. Rosholt got back on track with a nice double jab to the bearded face of "Big Country."
Nelson missed with an overhand right, but came right back with it, turning it into a backfist. Rosholt changed levels for a takedown attempt and, though he turned a sharp corner, got underneath and behind Nelson, the wrestler's try was stuffed.
Nelson got back to his feet with under a minute left, ate several jabs to the face, and ended the bout swinging his right hand widely and chasing Rosholt down.
The win improves Nelson's record to 22-12. The loss is just the second in eight UFC fights for Rosholt, and drops his overall mark to 14-3.
