UFC heavyweight fighter “Big Country” Roy Nelson says he’d love to join WWE and plans to speak with UFC President Dana White about it.

During an “open workout” media event in Las Vegas earlier this week to promote Thursday’s UFC Fight Night event, Nelson stated that he’d join WWE as soon as he gets the green light from UFC execs.

“I would love to go to WWE,” he said. “But, I think in our contracts we’re not allowed to do that. There are some people who get that little extra leeway. But, now I think everyone is kind of going that way, I might as well try it.”

He added, “I’ll talk to Dana and say, ‘Hey, can we do this?’”

Nelson (21-12) will fight “The Black Beast” Derrick Lewis (15-4) on Thursday night, the first of 3 consecutive fight nights from Vegas that culminates with UFC 200 on Saturday night.

Of course, MMA fighters and pro wrestlers crossing over is nothing new, with Ken Shamrock, Dan Severn, Tank Abbott, Josh Barnett, Bobby Lashley and Brock Lesnar all competing in both arenas.

For much more on Saturday night’s blockbuster UFC 200 show, visit our affiliate site MMANews.com.

– UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson is once again teasing that he’ll be joining WWE after his fight at Saturday’s UFC 146 pay-per-view. During an interview with MMA Weekly, Nelson was asked what’s next after Saturday. He replied:

“might just have to go to WWE because I might just have to call him [Brock Lesnar] out, go to WWE, and whoop his ass.”

UFC Legend Tito Ortiz Strongly Hints That He’s Joining WWE

– Alberto Del Rio turns 35 years old today.

– Ezekiel Jackson has launched a Facebook page at Facebook.com/BigZekeWWE.

– WWE has announced the next live SmackDown special will take place Tuesday, July 3rd from Corpus Christi, Texas. Superstars from both brands are being advertised for the show, including John Cena. This will likely be a 4th of July special.

UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson

As previously reported, UFC heavyweight fighter Roy “Big Country” Nelson has expressed interest in working for World Wrestling Entertainment.

Related News:

• Roy Nelson’s Reps Contact Jim Ross About WWE Job
• UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson Wants To Work For WWE
  

To update this story, we can report that Nelson’s people were in talks with WWE’s John Laurinaitis earlier this month. It’s said that Nelson had no idea of what working for WWE would be like and he just heard the high price tag that Brock Lesnar might get for a return so he became interested. The talks with Laurinaitis stopped after he became unavailable and unresponsive to the inquiries from Nelson’s camp.

Vince McMahon has said that he’s not interested in using MMA fighters who have had success in the sport because they can still make money without dealing with WWE’s schedule.

Back in 2006, Vince offered Bob Sapp a seven-figure contract and the ECW Title. Sapp turned the offer down, mainly not wanting to deal with WWE’s schedule. The spot was eventually given to Bobby Lashley.

(Source: Wrestling Observer Newsletter)

To update the story that UFC heavyweight fighter Roy Nelson wants to work with WWE, Jim Ross wrote in his most recent blog that Nelson’s reps recently contacted him about getting “Big Country” a job in WWE. Ross wrote:

“A rep of Roy Nelson casually contacted me about the hard hitting MMA fighter wanting to get in the WWE at some point,” Ross said. “So the rumors of Nelson wanting to jump from MMA to WWE aren’t totally unfounded.

“However, one has to wonder if this isn’t a case of leveraging or posturing to some degree by the big puncher. Roy Nelson might become a star in pro wrestling if he applied himself to it but so many athletes come into the wrestling biz thinking that it’s easy and takes little effort to be good at it. Nothing could be more wrong. For the record, I have not gotten involved in this matter and likely will not.”

To read more on Roy Nelson possibly joining WWE, click below:

• UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson Wants To Work For WWE

UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson

As we reported last week, there’s a current UFC fighter who is interested in wrestling for WWE in the near future. That fighter is former International Fight League Heavyweight Champion and winner of “The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights,” Roy Nelson.

There’s some interesting backstory to the situation. Nelson has been fighting for UFC in his last few fights, but there’s a legal mess that’s preventing him from fighting anywhere now. Either before or during the time that he was signed with UFC, Nelson signed a contract with former boxer Roy Jones’ Square Ring, Inc. promotion.

Square Ring, Inc. has sued Roy Nelson and Zuffa LLC (UFC’s parent company), claiming they have exclusive rights over Nelson’s MMA career. Because UFC’s contracts typically include a clause that would indemnify Zuffa from any lawsuits arising from a fighter breaching contracts with other companies (such as Square Ring), all the legal heat is now coming down on Nelson. The legal bills are piling up, Nelson can’t fight for UFC, Square Ring isn’t booking any big MMA shows and “Big Country” needs a big payday.

Nelson’s management team thinks working with WWE could be the solution and has reached out to the company about working together. No word yet if WWE is interested in working with Nelson, but this will be an interesting story to follow.

Roy Nelson is a 34-year-old brawler known for his unorthodox body type – sporting a big gut and tipping the scales at around 265 pounds. Prior to this legal mess, Nelson had been a rumored opponent for former UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar.

Following a stream of outrage from UFC fans on his Twitter page, UFC president Dana White now says a rubber match between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir might not be the best idea after all.

White also revealed that UFC heavyweight Roy Nelson is currently unable to fight due to contractual “issues” with another fight promotion.

Here’s a clip of Dana White at the UFC 122 press conference, courtesy of Fighters Only:

UFC Heavyweight Roy Nelson

Former UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar (5-2) took a beating at the hands of new champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 121 last month, but he’s already looking ahead to his next fight in the octagon.

According to f4wonline.com, Lesnar his sights set on the winner of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights, Roy “Big Country Nelson (15-5)

Nelson was set to fight Shane Carwin at UFC 125, but Carwin had to pull out of the fight, leaving Nelson off that show.

Despite the fact that Lesnar has asked Dana White for a fight with Nelson, there are still may in the UFC who see big money in a third and final fight between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir (14-5).

Mir tapped Lesnar out in Lesnar’s UFC debut back in February 2008. Lesnar returned the favor at UFC 100 back in June 2009, smothering Mir with his wrestling / ground-and-pound offense, unifying the UFC heavyweight title.

Who do you want to see Brock Lesnar fight next? Comment below and share your thoughts.