Déjà vu All Over Again? Shane Nelson Hopes So

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By Elias Cepeda

On March 7th, Shane Nelson was living the dream. The 25 year old protégé of lightweight champion BJ Penn had just improved his UFC record to 2-0 by stopping top veteran Aaron Riley via TKO in just 44 seconds and was on cloud nine.

But as the Nationwide Arena Columbus crowd began to boo and Riley began to protest, Nelson realized that it appeared to most that the fight had been ended prematurely by the referee. From the extreme high of stringing together consecutive wins in MMA’s big show, Nelson hit a confusing low of having his celebration interrupted by controversy, by no fault of his own.

“[The fans booing] was kind of not cool because…when you go into the cage its your job to fight until the ref pulls you off and that’s exactly what happened,” Nelson said from his California training camp for UFC 101, where he will once again face Riley.

Though Nelson admits to initially being frustrated at having to give an immediate rematch to someone he just beat, training with his mentor Penn – who will defend his title against Kenny Florian the same August 8th night – has focused Nelson on the task at hand. Being on the champ’s team has its advantages, and Nelson seems to feel that Riley will also be taking on a little bit of Penn on fight night.

“Me and BJ are training for the same card. He’s sparring, I’m sparring. Everything he’s doing, I’m doing. So I feel like I’m training like a champion right now,” Nelson says.

For his bout against Florian, Penn decided to move his training camp from its usual Hilo, Hawaii home location to Costa Mesa, California and a new state of the art gym where Penn’s team has brought in some of the best sparring partners and coaches to help the UFC 101 effort. Having come stateside with Penn, Nelson has benefited from the world class facilities and personnel, as well as the luxury of making training his full time occupation, but he hasn’t always been in this position.

Not long ago Nelson was just another Hilo teenager looking for a place to train. After walking into the local boxing gym and realizing the fees were out of his reach, Nelson went into the Jiu Jitsu school next door. It happened to be BJ Penn’s gym and Nelson stuck around long enough to get noticed.

“While we were training Jiu Jitsu, BJ and his guys would be in the cage doing their stuff. I would watch and just wait for my chance to get in there and try it,” Nelson remembers of his early days at the gym. “When you finally get called it’s like getting drafted. You get drafted from the mat to the cage.”

Nelson kept training hard and caught the MMA bug, thanks in large part to Penn’s personal influence. “I was always a fan of the UFC with the Royce Gracie stuff but I never thought of doing it. But once I was around it and actually saw someone that I knew accomplish it, and that it was a reachable goal, then I figured, ‘let’s see how far I can take this. Let’s give it a shot,’” Nelson says.

And he did, taking a couple amateur fights, then quickly taking any pro fight that would come his way. Nelson began to build a solid pro record and flourished under the support of the Penn camp.

“They saw a lot of potential in me and they just put a lot of time into me. Not only with the Jiu Jitsu but with the wrestling. Like, BJ would take me to the YMCA to wrestle with all the wrestlers. He just took me under his wing, I guess, and wanted to see how much I would commit to the sport,” Nelson says.

And Nelson was plenty committed, pulling off the typical balance of a pro fighting career and maintaining a full time day job. First it was 9-5 at a bank and then Nelson moved on to construction work, all the while making sure he got in his workouts at the gym and took on all comers in the ring. Most MMA fighters would understand Nelson’s feelings on that years-long period. “It sucked, that was rough,” he says.

For his rematch with Riley, Nelson has made MMA his full-time occupation and he loves the life of dedicating himself to climbing the UFC lightweight ladder, though it’s more challenging than he thought it would be. “Training full time is just as hard as a full time job,” he says.

“Maybe I didn’t think it would be this hard, I thought it would be fun and stuff but now it’s my job and I take it seriously. Winning the fight is how I’ll get my next meals on the table. I have a son too and fighting is my only source of income, so I do everything I can to make sure I go in 100% and try and put everything into it… As long as I keep winning I’ll continue to fight full time. ”

And the fact that a man he just beat stands in the way of that prospect only motivates Nelson more.

“Honestly, I think that I shouldn’t even have to be fighting [Riley] again but what can I do? I’m just going to prepare exactly like I did the last time and go out there and kick his ass again,” the good natured Nelson says, his competitive side revealing itself.

Nelson may have once been upset about facing Riley again right away but, like many great athletes before him, he seems to be able to use even perceived slights as fuel. Did everyone expect him to lose to Riley? Fine. Did fans boo his winning effort? Fine.

Ultimately, Nelson is fine with proving himself again. And he knows he’ll be even better prepared this time around.

“We actually have a better camp out here now…better training partners, better facilities,” he says.
“Maybe they think I got off easy, that Riley should have beaten me. But they are going to see the same thing happen again August 8th.”

Who are the “they” Nelson is speaking of? Fans, fellow fighters, doubters?

It doesn’t really matter. All that matters is that Shane Nelson is now amped up to take on Riley again and a little added incentive never makes for a bad fight.

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