Rick Story on shock win against welterweight prospect Gunnar Nelson: “being counted out is a motivation factor, but it's a good feeling to close their mouths”
By Alex Dillon @ADillon__
UFC Fight Night: Nelson vs Story took place in Stockholm, Sweden this past Saturday evening and it would be the underdog Rick Story who prevailed with a dominant split decision victory.
Heading into the event, many believed that Rick Story would present a sizeable challenge for Gunnar Nelson to see where the Icelandic prospect matched up in the stacked Welterweight division but few believed that Nelson’s undefeated record would suffer and how wrong they were. Speaking to the media after, Story said ”being counted out is a motivation factor, but it’s a good feeling to close their mouths” Using that as motivation certainly worked as he completely thwarted Nelson’s game and essentially shut him out of the fight at stages whilst also hurting him on several occasions. When looking outside of the hype bubble that was Gunnar Nelson, it was somewhat foolish to count out a fighter like Rick Story who had previously beaten the UFC welterweight champion Johny Hendricks as well as contender Jake Ellenberger and really, should be on a 5 fight winning streak now if it wasn't for a few controversial split decision losses.
Surprisingly enough, one judge scored the fight 48-47 in favour of Nelson and Story admitted he had flashbacks from familiar pastimes “When I heard a split decision, I thought of Pyle and Gastelum. Pyle fight I thought I won. I should be on a 5-fight win streak now” It’s hard to argue with Story’s statement and under new coach John Crouch at the MMA Lab, it seems like we are seeing a revitalised fighter who is aiming for the top again “I really do think I’m in the right place. I have the motivation to go in. There’s no point fighting at this level but for a title" Story explained.
After an impressive performance, it would be good to see Story matched up with the winner of Jake Ellenberger vs Kelvin Gastelum which takes place next month at UFC 180 in Mexico.
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