LONDON – Gunnar Nelson had been out of action long enough that he didn’t know what it was like to fight in the UFC’s pandemic era.
Nelson lost back-to-back fights to Leon Edwards and Gilbert Burns in 2019 and had been on the sidelines ever since then. So his Saturday return at UFC Fight Night 204 in London was one of the most highly anticipated fights on the card.
Nelson (18-5-1 MMA, 9-5 UFC) dominated late replacement Takashi Sato (16-5 MMA, 2-3 UFC), who stepped in for Claudio Silva, and won a unanimous decision with a trio of 30-26 scores from the judges at The O2. It was Nelson’s first win since December 2018 – and the first time he had to go the distance for a win in more than eight years.
