Gunnar Nelson has said his ribcage "completely folded" during a grappling session with Thor Bjornsson last year.
The gnarly injury further set back the UFC welterweight's plans for an octagon return after already sitting out for over two years following his loss to Leon Edwards in March 2019. By the time Nelson got back in the cage at UFC London earlier this month, he had been out of commission for 30 months.
The pair met at Mjolnir MMA in Reykjavik and shot a brief jiu-jitsu roll for the former world's strongest man's YouTube channel when Nelson picked up a rib injury. But he blames that injury on his own poor planning, and insists it didn't affect his relationship with the Game of Thrones star.
