Roy "Big Country" Nelson becomes the winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.

Well, its finally over folks, The Ultimate Fighter season 10 is now complete, and Roy “Big Country” Nelson (14-4, 1-0 UFC) was awarded the highly coveted six-figure contract with the UFC after knocking out Brendan Schaub (4-1, 0-1 UFC) Saturday night at the Palms in Las Vegas, Nev.

Nelson took Schaub down early in round one, but he was able to scramble back to his feet. The two then traded punches with both landing some decent shots. Although Nelson’s greatest strength is his ground game, he was not afraid to stand and trade punches.

With less than two minutes remaining in the opening round, Nelson landed a huge right hand behind Schaub’s ear that cut his lights out, and dropped him flat on his back to the canvas. Roy followed it up with one more for good measure, and just like that, simultaneously dropped the jaws of a few million people.

It was a beautiful finish, the perfect icing on the cake for a man who has traveled a long hard road to get to the UFC, and had suffered two straight losses before entering into The Ultimate Fighter competition.

At one point, “Big Country” was the IFL heavyweight champion, and that is where he made his name. And prior to the IFL shutting down, he went on a five fight win streak, beating the likes of Fabiano Scherner and Brad Imes.

Then in 2008 he met Andrei Arlovski in EliteXC: Heat. Arlovski knocked Nelson out for the first and only time in his career. Five months later, in March of 2009, he faced off grappling sensation Jeff Monson. The two heavyweights went three full rounds, but in the end Monson got the nod.

This put Nelson in a peculiar position. It was the first time in his career he had back-to-back losses. What better time to enter into The Ultimate Fighter competition, where he could get the opportunity to train with one of the best camps in the world under Rashad Evans and Trevor Wittman, while at the same time, see if he can earn his way into the UFC, and see if once and for all if he belongs in the big show. And he proved without a doubt, 110%, he absolutely belongs there.

The story with Nelson seems to always come back to his physical appearance. He confuses people because they just cannot seem to believe such a robust man can perform like he does. Yet, time and again he rose to the occasion in this competition.

In his post-fight interview, Nelson said he is ready to fight any heavyweight on the UFC roster. Often times the winner of The Ultimate Fighter needs time to develop, so the UFC matches them up accordingly, and avoids throwing them into deep waters right away. That is something they won’t need to do with Nelson.

If you want all the round by round details on tonight’s action check out our TUF 10 Finale results and play-by-play commentary.

By: Jack Bratcher

One thought on “Roy “Big Country” Nelson knocks out Brendan Schaub to become The Ultimate Fighter”
  1. When Joe Silva came into the cage after the fight Roy Nelson said, “Was that exciting enough for you?” Joe, smiling, said, “Yes, it was.”

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