Gunnar Nelson Details Injury that Forced Him Out of UFC Belfast’s Main Event

Last week, the UFC’s highly anticipated November 19 return to Belfast, Northern Ireland was dealt a fairly severe blow. Just weeks out from fight night, it lost its main event, as Iceland’s honorary Irishman Gunnar Nelson was forced out of his headlining welterweight bout with South Korea’s Dong Hyun Kim.

Luckily for the fans in Belfast, the UFC was able to scramble and create a new and compelling main event. The evening’s headliner will now see top middleweight contender Gegard Mousasi attempt to avenge a shocking 2015 loss to Urijah Hall.

Fans of Gunnar Nelson, however, will likely have to wait some time before they see him in action again. On Tuesday morning, the Conor McGregor training partner took to his Instagram with a lengthy post detailing the injury that forced him off the card.

I want begin with saying im very sorry to all my fans, sponsors, friends and StunGun that im pulling out of this fight in Belfast. I was so much looking forward to fighting again in Ireland and now its not happening because of a stupid ankle twist that ironacly happend in a UFC open work out!! It happend at 1:08min into the video that was live on facebook for those who want to see it, its still up i think. Right away i wasnt sure how serious it was so i kept face and rolled a little on but told my training partner Kenny Baker about it during and he knew all about it he said because he felt the massive click when it happend. I was forced to stop within minutes because i relised it was bad. For a few days i was not able to put any weight on the leg and thought i had to pull out and felt devastated but then within 10 days i got to a state where i could walk normaly without much pain so i thought again that i was gonna fight and felt great. For a few weeks i was doing everything that i could to get better so i would be able to return to proper training again but that next step of being able to bounce, move in and out and grapple just would not happend. I kept doing everything i could wich was mostly rowing, swimming and bits here and there thinking i would get there. A week ago my trainers told me and i was starting to relise that this was gonna take more time and i could not go into this fight with one ankle and not realy any martial art training at all 🙁 Again i am so sorry for this but to all who already booked their tickets and travels and all the fans that were looking forward to this fight like I was. I will be back soon better then ever. Thank you all for all the support and I’m sorry for any inconvenience. Photo: @michaelquiet

A photo posted by Gunnar Nelson (@gunninelson) on Oct 25, 2016 at 7:30am PDT

“I want begin with saying I’m very sorry to all my fans, sponsors, friends and StunGun that I’m pulling out of this fight in Belfast”, Nelson said in his post. “I was so much looking forward to fighting again in Ireland and now its not happening because of a stupid ankle twist that ironically happened in a UFC open workout! It happened at 1:08min into the video that was live on Facebook for those who want to see it, it’s still up I think.”

“Right away i wasn’t sure how serious it was so I kept face and rolled a little on but told my training partner Kenny Baker about it during and he knew all about it he said because he felt the massive click when it happened. I was forced to stop within minutes because I realized it was bad.” 

“For a few days i was not able to put any weight on the leg and thought I had to pull out and felt devastated but then within 10 days i got to a state where I could walk normally without much pain so i thought again that I was gonna fight and felt great. For a few weeks I was doing everything that I could to get better so I would be able to return to proper training again but that next step of being able to bounce, move in and out and grapple just would not happened. I kept doing everything i could which was mostly rowing, swimming and bits here and there thinking I would get there.”

“A week ago my trainers told me and i was starting to realize that this was gonna take more time and i could not go into this fight with one ankle and not really any martial art training at all,” Nelson concluded. “Again i am so sorry for this but to all who already booked their tickets and travels and all the fans that were looking forward to this fight like I was, I will be back soon better then ever. Thank you all for all the support and I’m sorry for any inconvenience.”

Hopefully, this injury will not keep Nelson sidelined for too long. Who would you like to see him fight when he returns to the Octagon? Sound off, PENN Nation!