Roy Nelson offered UFC his win bonus to get second shot at Derrick Lewis
The judges said Roy Nelson lost his last fight to Derrick Lewis, but the veteran knockout artist definitely didn't agree.
The two behemoth heavyweights battled back and forth over three rounds in July, but in the end Lewis was awarded with a split decision victory over Nelson.
Now on the cusp of his next fight against Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in Brazil, Nelson still looks back at his war with Lewis and believes he should have been awarded the victory.
"After I beat 'Bigfoot', I'll be on a three fight win streak," Nelson told FOX Sports recently.
The close loss to Lewis perturbed Nelson so badly that he actually went to the UFC and offered to make a wager if he was granted a rematch. Funny enough despite the win, Lewis also asked the UFC to give him a second shot at Nelson but instead both fighters were matched up with new opponents.
Nelson has faced several tough defeats during his UFC career, but he's never been granted a rematch with anybody. He would love it if Lewis was the first one on that list after the last fight left a bad taste in his mouth after the decision was rendered.
"Just because I want everybody I've ever lost to. I'm not like Cain Velasquez where I fight everybody like four times or three times or two times. Everybody has fought everybody else at least once or twice," Nelson said.
"The thing is I thought maybe I could squeeze this one in and then fight Derrick on that November card in New York. One thing at a time. I've got to get through "Bigfoot" and then we'll go from there."
Nelson will enter his fight with Silva this weekend as a 4-to-1 favorite according to some oddsmakers following an incredibly rough run for the Brazilian in recent fights.
Sources told FOX Sports following Silva's last loss to Stefan Struve that the UFC considered cutting the former heavyweight title contender after a 1-4 stretch with all of his defeats coming by way of knockout, but the organization decided to give him another shot instead.
"I think anybody in the heavyweight division can have a rough time. Just look at (Andrei) Arlovski. Anybody can win in the heavyweight division. We're probably the most stacked division other than 170 where you know all the heavyweights by name. Like name the 205'ers — Jon Jones and that's it. You know what I mean?" Nelson said.
"I think heavyweights if you get hit flush on the chin, you get knocked out. That's just how it goes. Stefan Struve knocked out Stipe (Miocic) but does that mean Stipe doesn't have a chin? Cause Stefan Struve really doesn't knock people out."
Whether Silva's chin is suspect or not, Nelson is definitely gunning for the finish because the split decision in his last fight didn't sit well with him, and he'd rather take the judges out of the equation all together this weekend.
"Judges and refs should mind their own business. That's how I look at it," Nelson said. "You go out there and fight. You try to play the game and try do what the judges want and do what the refs want and the refs don't know what they're talking about and the judges don't know what they're talking about. That's how I feel."
Nelson fights Lewis as part of UFC Fight Night: Cyborg vs. Lansberg on FS1 with the main card kicking off Saturday night at 10 p.m. ET.
