To those that are familiar with the competitive Jiu-Jitsu and Submission Grappling scene, Roy "Big Country" Nelson is one of the first names that come to mind when thinking about some of the most accomplished American heavyweight grapplers. He is an ADCC and Pan American veteran with notable wins over the likes of Jeff Monson, Brandon Vera, Frank Mir, and Diego Sanchez. However, on Friday February 29th Roy will look to build upon his equally impressive MMA accolades by defending his IFL Heavyweight Title against Fabiano Scherner in the IFL's first event of the 2008 season at the Orleans Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.




Bevois: Hey Roy, could you start by telling everyone where you're from?

Roy: I was born and raised right here in Las Vegas, Nevada.



Bevois: So if you're from the desert, how did you get the nickname "Big Country"?

Roy: I was training takedowns with Tito Ortiz, Ricco Rodriguez, Marvin Eastman, and Eric Pele at J-Sect when I first started and Big E (Eric Pele) was impressed with the way I was taking a lot of people down. He thought I was some college wrestler from Iowa, so he gave me the nickname "Big Country" and it kind of stuck.



Bevois: You started training Jiu-Jitsu with John Lewis. What got you interested?

Roy: Well, I started out by wrestling at Cimarron High School. I was pretty successful at it and placed in our zone and then state. After high school I started training Kung Fu for 6 years. Then in 2001, I saw John Lewis fight on TV. I wanted to fight and since he was local a friend of mine told me to stop by his school. I figured it would be a good way to get some fights and fight management. That's how I found Jiu-Jitsu.



Bevois: You did knock out Antoine Jaoude to win your belt on December 29th, but you're still mostly known for your grappling prowess. How long have you trained striking and with whom?

Roy: I've been training stand-up since 2005 with Skip Kelp who is the boxing coach at J-Sect. I already knew how to kick from my years of Kung Fu, so Kip helped me with my hands.



Bevois: Has your Kung Fu helped you noticeably in your MMA career?

Roy: Kung Fu has helped me a lot mentally, which is the most important thing in grappling, MMA, and in life.



Bevois: Where do you currently spend most of your time training?

Roy: Most of my training is with Skip Kelp over at J-Sect. I also train a lot with my students at my house out of my garage.



Bevois: What made you decide to make the transition from competitive grappling to MMA?

Roy: Training with Tito Ortiz, Ricco Rodriguez, Marvin Eastman, Eric Pele, Chuck Liddell, B.J. Penn, John Lewis, Tony DeSouza, Gilbert Yvel, and all the other top guys, day in and day out, in the old days of J-Sect. Training and helping them get ready for fights in the fight capital of the world, it was kind of inevitable. I felt like I should get a piece of the pie and make some money doing what I'd already been doing by fighting too.



Bevois: Before you started fighting full-time, you were a full-time elementary school teacher. What made you switch career paths?

Roy: I can teach again after I'm done fighting, as there are only a handful of years that I can fight in my prime. I could always do that after.



Bevois: The IFL has had a reputation for treating its fighters very well. Why do you think this is?

Roy: When they first started out, they tried to make it a fighter first organization to help fighters by siphoning monthly pay as a salary for fighters on top of fight pay. They also used to provide all of us (the fighters) with insurance. Now they're taking a few steps backwards due to cost cuts. They did away with the monthly pay and insurance, because they felt like they were losing money, when they were actually spending money in the wrong places such as high profile coaches, whom weren't the ones fighting. So essentially these coaches were getting paid larger salaries than the fighters on top of a cut of the money from all of the fighters they cornered. My coach Ken Shamrock was cool about it though and never asks for a cornering fee from his fighters. He just works as a regular coach and gets the standard management fee.



Bevois: Speaking of Ken Shamrock, he fights Robert Berry next week in the main event at Cage Rage 25 in London, England. What are your thoughts on Ken and that fight?

Roy: Ken is an ambassador of the game. He knows all the ins and outs from the promotional side to the fight side. Picking his brain is good. As for his fight next week, he should win and show the world that he still has a few fights left in him like Randy Couture did. This will be a good win and then the plan is for him to fight Kimbo Slice, since Cage Rage and EliteXC are both under the ProElite umbrella.



Bevois: Ken actually just busted Gumby's brother with pocket aces, while playing poker up in Reno. He also sharked Tito Ortiz at pool for $10K on TUF 3. Has he ever won any money off you?

Roy: No he hasn't, but after I won the IFL World Grand Prix finals on December 29th, he did stay up for a poker tournament at the Mohegan Sun in Connecticut.



Bevois: You defend your IFL heavyweight title for the first time on Friday night against Fabiano Scherner. What do you expect from him?

Roy: I expect him to come out strong. He's a big guy and will probably swing for the fences. He's a black belt in jiu-jitsu and also trains with Team Quest so I expect he'll try to take me down at some point. I'm just gonna look to weather the storm, put him on his back, and finish him with strikes on the ground.


Bevois: Your teammate John Gunderson challenges Ryan Schultz for the IFL lightweight title on Friday night too. How do you see that fight going?

Roy: Guns and Schultz both have good stand-up and wrestling. So it will either be a slugfest or a lay n' prey decision. Schultz is on a tear right now and has a lot of momentum coming off his big win over Chris