- NELSON AT A NEW LEVEL FOR REMATCH WITH RILEY
by Brian Lopez-Benchimol - MMAWeekly.com
"Immediately, once I saw the crowd's reaction on the big screen and I saw the replay and I said it right there in the Octagon, 'we can do it again if you want' and we're going to go at it and do it again."
Ah, the prophetic words of Shane Nelson.
A season eight standout of the Ultimate Fighter series, "Sugar" is returning to the Octagon Saturday night at UFC 101 in Philadelphia, gracing the preliminary portion of the card to face tested veteran Aaron Riley in a rematch from their original tainted meeting this past March.
What had all the makings for a good scrap between the B.J. Penn protégé and Riley, who had just earned his first victory inside the Octagon, a "Fight of the Night" performance against Jorge Gurgel, would ultimately prove to be a major letdown.
Though Yves Lavigne got the blunt end of it throughout the night, provoking jeers from the fans in attendance every time his face graced the big screen due to the controversial stoppage, Nelson can vaguely remember the bout that took all of 44 seconds to conclude. He only hopes to make things right this time around.
"I just remember the ref diving in between us and I got up, I was stoked that the fight was over," said Nelson while speaking with MMAWeekly.com.
"At that moment, all I remember was hitting him with a good shot, him going down, and throwing a couple more punches and the ref diving in. At the time, I thought it was a cool stoppage. Afterwards, I looked at the tape and saw that it was an early stoppage and no one wants to win like that. No one wants to lose like that either. So we're going to go at it and do it again."
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With no hesitation in accepting the rematch to put a definitive end to a once promising lightweight clash, the only thing lurking in the back of the Hilo boy's mind is for a more suitable, veteran referee to take command of the in-cage happenings.
"When you see someone that you've been watching for years ref fights, especially someone like Herb Dean or Big John (McCarthy), then you know you don't have to worry about they're calls. They've been reffing fights probably longer than I've been fighting, so that definitely makes it a lot easier if you have someone like that in there."
Only five months removed from their initial meeting, Nelson isn't expecting much of a change from Riley, who has made a reputation of being a head forward ask questions later kind of fighter. Nelson, however, feels he is in a better place both mentally and physically since their last go-around.
"I pretty much expect the same out of him, he's pretty much a straight forward guy. He's gonna come in and get me to try to brawl with him," said Nelson.
"I had a way better camp for this fight than I did the last fight, actually. So I feel that I'm in better shape for this fight and more mentally prepared."
Secluded in parts unknown (well, California), here in the States, away from the sometimes distracting Hawaiian lifestyle, Nelson is ready to prove his mettle once again.
"The guys in Hawaii, I've been sparring them and training with them for the past five, six years. This is the first time I actually, besides being on The Ultimate Fighter, got out to the mainland and got to train with all these different type of fighters.
"I feel like this is what I needed to take my game to the next level."
