Roy vs Frank! I hope Roy wins!

Contract issues resolved, Roy Nelson vs. Frank Mir targeted for UFC 130
by John Morgan and Dann Stupp on Jan 07, 2011 at 4:20 pm ET
A heavyweight bout between former champ Frank Mir (14-5 MMA, 12-5 UFC) and fellow contender Roy Nelson (15-5 MMA, 2-1 UFC) is in the works for a planned Memorial Day weekend event expected to be UFC 130.

A source close to the negotiations told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) verbal agreements are in place for the heavyweight tilt.

An additional source said the contract issues that forced Nelson out of an early-year event aren't expected to be an issue.

A blog for the BetUS.com sportsbook first reported the fight, which is expected to take place May 28 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. Nelson vs. Mir likely will be part of the pay-per-view main card.

Mir is coming off an impressive third-round knockout of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic in the headliner of September's UFC 119 event. In the four fights prior, the former titleholder alternated between wins and losses. A TKO victory over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (for the interim belt) was followed by a TKO loss to Brock Lesnar (a title-unification bout). He responded with a submission win over Cheick Kongo but then suffered a quick KO loss to Shane Carwin.

Nelson, meanwhile, looks to rebound from a recent high-profile loss. The former IFL champion won "The Ultimate Fighter 10," which he entered as a heavy favorite, by knocking out Brendan Schaub in the finale. He then posted a 39-second knockout win over Stefan Struve. But in a fight that UFC president Dana White said would earn the winner a title shot, Nelson dropped a decision to fast-rising Junior Dos Santos at UFC 117.

While initially booked for a UFC 125 bout, opponent Carwin was forced off the card with an injury, and Nelson then was sidelined due to contract issues, according to UFC president Dana White. White declined to name the promotion, but sources close to "Big Country" confirmed that former boxing great Roy Jones Jr.'s Square Ring Promotions is the company that claimed to have Nelson tied down.

Nelson headlined a MMA/boxing hybrid card Jones Jr. promoted in March 2009 entitled "March Badness" and was defeated by former UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson via unanimous decision.

"These guys go out and sign with these rinky-dink little promotion companies and sign these bad contracts, and let's just say Roy Nelson is involved in a bad contract right now that he had before," White said back in November. "There's a couple of different organizations out there that do it."

Apparently, those issues have been resolved.

For more on the as-yet-unannounced UFC 130, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.

[Irish Pride]

Looking forward to this, although I would hardly call Mir's KO of CroCop "impressive." That fight was rather boring an unimpressive. Still looking forward to the fight though.

[Spiritwalker]

WARRRRRRRR MIR!!!!

Roy should get BK for a sponsor!!!

[Irish Pride]

Originally Posted by Spiritwalker

WARRRRRRRR MIR!!!!

Roy should get BK for a sponsor!!!

I think something happened with him and BK. He was talking about it in a radio interview.

[Bonnie]

I'll be rooting for Roy! Hope he's in good fighting shape!

I hope Roy wins. And figure this fight with Mir oughtta give an indication of where he's at and what he needs to do to move up an compete at the top!

Originally Posted by Bonnie

I'll be rooting for Roy! Hope he's in good fighting shape!

Bonnie Round is a shape so he will be in shape. As a life long fat person who spent a lot of time proving people wrong body type is no indication of one athletic ability. I and many other can testify to that. SO I stand on round being in shape