Huntsville’s Kyle Nelson has signed a multi-fight contract with the UFC.
He’s nicknamed “The Monster” and has one win and three losses in the UFC since joining the promotion in December 2018. His last fight was in September 2020. Nelson says he wasn’t able to come to an agreement with the organization after his first four-fight contract ended.
Nelson’s new contract is for four fights or two years, whichever comes first.
The 31-year-old fights out of Stoney Creek, Ont., but was born in Huntsville. He currently trains with House of Champions in Stoney Creek and the Muskoka Martial Arts Academy in Gravenhurst.
While he isn’t allowed to say when his next fight will be, Nelson says one is lined up with the UFC and expects it will be announced “very soon.”
“[Joining the UFC] was always my dream, ever since I started when I was 14, training in Bracebridge,” Nelson says. “Training pretty much on the main street at Muskoka Kick Boxing.”
The 31-year-old has been fighting professionally since 2012. Before arriving in the UFC, he had a record of 12 wins and one loss.
“Getting to the UFC was obviously the first step, but the next step is going to be first of all winning a bunch of fights, getting into the top 10 and eventually winning that championship,” Nelson says.
For the majority of his 12-year career, he’s fought at 145 lbs., which classified him as a featherweight. However, he usually weighs around 180 lbs. when training so he says the stress of cutting weight for fights was hard on him. Nelson believes that was the reason behind the up-and-down start to his UFC career.
That’s why he’s now competing at 155 lbs. in the lightweight division.
“Not having the stress of that big of a weight cut I think is going to do wonders as far as stress going into the fight,” Nelson says.
Previously he says he only had “one or two good rounds” a fight because the stress of the weight cut drained him of his energy.
The transition to a new weight class hasn’t been tough for Nelson. He says now he and his team have streamlined his training camp, nutrition, and weight cut. “We’ve got everything dialled in now,” he says. “This is going to be the best monster yet.”