Roy Nelson: There is no greatest heavyweight of all time
The argument about who is the greatest of all time in any sport is a conversation that permeates the fans, promoters and media alike because there really is no right or wrong answer and it always sparks a debate.
When it comes to the heavyweight division, history leads to names like Mark Coleman or Randy Couture, but almost universally the conversation about the best ever starts and stops with Fedor Emelianenko. The former PRIDE heavyweight champion was undefeated for the biggest part of eight years while his reign of terror tore through every fighter that dared step in his way.
If Emelianenko isn't the name at the top of the list, the person most likely to steal a few votes is current UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, who has only lost once in his career and then avenged that defeat with two absolute maulings over the person who beat him the first time.
Despite all the accolades Emelianenko and Velasquez have earned, fellow heavyweight Roy Nelson isn't ready to tag either of them as the 'greatest of all time'.
"I don't think there's actually a greatest heavyweight," Nelson told FOX Sports when asked if Fedor still sat as the king of the mountain. "I think with every heavyweight there's a style that makes for a different fight with different fighters. Styles always make fights and everybody always has a number.
"Sometimes you have a bad day, sometimes you don't."
Nelson points to Velasquez's only loss since becoming a professional fighter as a prime example of how dangerous it can be for anyone in the heavyweight division. Even the fighter holding down the top spot as champion right now.
"The best example would be (Junior) Dos Santos and Cain Velasquez," Nelson explained. "The first time they fought, Cain got flattened. There's another two times where Cain made up for it, learned from his mistakes, had a bad day. In our business when you have a chance to fight a guy twice -- I'll let you get one on me but the second time I guarantee I'm going to beat you."
With such an even playing field amongst the heavyweights, Nelson knows that it's going to be rare for any fighter to come away unscathed while winning more than just a couple of fights in a row before being dealt a loss.
He's felt the brunt of the heavyweight division himself, but what Nelson has going for him that few other fighters in the weight class possesses is marketability. His ham-fisted knockouts and blue-collar appeal have made Nelson one of the most popular and talked about fighters on the UFC roster.
To quote UFC president Dana White, Nelson knows how to move the needle.
It's a big part of the reason why Nelson continuously pushes for a heavyweight title fight. Records aside, Nelson is confident that if he faced Velasquez or No. 1 contender Fabricio Werdum in a pay-per-view main event, there's not a fan alive who wouldn't tune in to watch.
"The thing is when you're the most entertaining fighter on the roster, it's hard to live up, the only thing that's more anticipated than this Roy Nelson/Mark Hunt fight is Roy Nelson fighting for the belt," Nelson said. "That's the only thing that would top this for fans."
Nelson's next fight against Hunt might be the most highly anticipated fight in the heavyweight division all year. The two sluggers are both known for having concrete in their chins and bricks in their fists.
Nelson looks at Hunt as a throw back to the days of PRIDE Fighting when the promotion's heavyweight division was not only the best in the world, but also the most exciting. It's part of the problem with fighters today according to Nelson.
He'd rather see an exciting fight where two guys go into the cage willing to put it all on the line for the sake of putting on a great show as opposed to each of them doing just enough to walk out a winner.
"That was the best part of the PRIDE guys -- they'd go out and entertain," Nelson said. "They'd either get knocked out or knock somebody out, they were always trying to finish the fight. I think nowadays some of the decline in our sport is fighters trying to be fighter/athletes which are point fighters versus just being fighters."
Thankfully, Hunt qualifies as the former and that's what makes Nelson so excited for this matchup.
"He is definitely a fighter," Nelson said about Hunt. "Anybody that was from the old PRIDE days is a fighter."
