LAS VEGAS -- Roy Nelson isn't afraid to say what's on his mind even if he's risking a beatdown somewhere down the line.
Speaking to the gathered media at the UFC 143 workout day, "Big Country" is a big backer of Junior dos Santos and had nothing but nice things to say about Fabricio Werdum, his opponent on Saturday night. When it comes to the recently retired Brock Lesnar and Alistair Overeem, he's not too impressed.
"Other people have the easier roads [to a title] shot, like Overeem. He beat Brock ... ooh. Now you get a title shot. Whatever," joked Nelson. "Overeem does really good at what he does. He's a good striker. Ground? Maybe not so much. Talk about dos Santos here, all he does is knock people out."
Nelson can crow loudly about JDS because he went 15 minutes with the champ and couldn't be finished.
On the topic of Lesnar, Nelson was pretty blunt during a discussion on his hometown radio station ESPN1100/98.9 FM in Las Vegas.
"I don't think he was ever going to retire as champion. I think it was more to introduce the UFC to Alistair Overeem," Nelson said about Lesnar's UFC 141 postfight comments that he would've retired after a fight against dos Santos had he beaten Overeem (5:00 mark). "I think he just wanted to get a paycheck and call it a retirement and call it a day. And good for him."
Werdum (14-5-1, 2-2 UFC) returns to the UFC for the first time since 2008. He was 3-1 with Strikeforce including a win over Fedor Emelianenko. Werdum is a minus-150 over Nelson (16-6, 3-2 UFC).
You can watch UFC 143 right here on Yahoo! Sports
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