UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson has never been shy about expressing his opinions. Now, he wants his voice to have greater impact as the executive director of the Nevada State Athletic Commission (NSAC)
The commission's director for the past eight years, Keith Kizer, resigned from the post on Monday. Nelson told Stephanie Daniels that he has formally applied to replace Kizer.
"I have put my application in. My wife and I were talking about having something besides fighting to fall back on, and I think I would be able to do some good. This is my hometown, it's where I was born and raised, so I feel it's a way for me to help further the sport," Nelson said.
"Big Country" also spoke a bit about what his general goals would be as the director of the world's most influential athletic commission. The Nevada native wants to help generate revenue for the state and clean up the fight world.
"With me, I can draw more people back to Vegas to help the budget. That's a big part of it. Of course I want to help get the sport cleaned up, but helping Nevada financially and bringing more revenue in is one of the primary goals I have. The others involve making sure we have better officiating and better fighter safety," he said.
When asked if he'd let the UFC know of his interest in the NSAC position, Nelson said that he had not but imagined that they'd support him. Turns out, he was very wrong to think that.
"I haven't told [the UFC] of my intent," Nelson said.
"But, I don't think they'll mind my intentions here. I think they'd probably be happy that I'm just trying to make the sport better. It would be the building of a relationship that would help the UFC, MMA and all of combat sports in Nevada."
Nope. At least not according to what UFC president Dana White told a group of reporters at a media lunch this week in Los Angeles.
According to Erik Fontanez, who was at the luncheon, White called Nelson "A [expletive] idiot."
Fontanez also tweeted that White also said "Roy couldn't get a job at Kinkos."
Oh well. For Nelson's sake, let's hope that he didn't list Dana White as a reference in his job application.
What do you think of Nelson applying for the NSAC executive director position? How about White's reaction to the news?
Let us know in the comments section.
Follow Elias on Twitter @EliasCepeda & @YahooCagewriter
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