Roy Nelson has fought guys who were on steroids. He knows he has. You don’t get to be a heavyweight at this level without having gone up against at least one or two opponents who came in with a little artificial help, he told MMA Fighting.

"You just know," Nelson said. "You know by straight-out asking them. You can do it that way. Or you can go through their coaches or training partners. It’s a very small world."

"There’s some verbal combat involved. You have to trick them into coming clean, but it does happen."

"If I can compete with them, and they’re using, it just means I’m a better athlete. That’s all it means to me."

"I’ve probably been tested for steroids probably more than any other fighter that’s ever fought ... It’s like a football program. There’s always going to be some guys where it’s like, yeah, you’re the one we’ve got to test, because then the program looks clean."

Nelson, who lost to JDS and Frank Mir before stopping Cro Cop in the third, is fighting Fabricio Werdum, who is coming off a loss in Strikeforce to Alistair Overeem. Never the less, Nelson hopes the winner of the fight with Werdum gets a title shot vs. the winner of Overeem/JDS.

"I think I have a bigger fanbase than Overeem by far," Nelson explains. "I think I’m probably one of the top guys in the UFC that actually has a very huge fanbase."

"Any time you lose, it looks bad. But at the same time, every loss you take a fighter should make you improve and become a better fighter. The way I look at it is, I’d rather take my losses now before I have the belt, because then I’d have the belt to lose, if that makes sense."

Read entire article...

Related MMA gear from the UG Store

RVCA Big RVCA Tee Only $20.99

RVCA BJ Penn The Place Shirt Only $29.99

tags-: UFC   Roy Nelson (detail)  Fabricio Werdum (detail)