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FightIndex
Heavyweight MMA · 2000s

Roy Nelson

24–20 · 47 recorded bouts · 2004–2023

Roy Nelson finished 83% of 24 wins inside the distance — the 45th percentile for heavyweight MMA, where the median is 85%. No reach is on record, so this page compares record rather than measurements.

What is on record

Measurements
Reachnot recorded
Height72″ (182.9 cm)
StanceOrthodox
DivisionHeavyweight MMA
Peak era2000s
CountryUnited States

Wikipedia carries no reach figure for Roy Nelson, so the reach-advantage comparison this site is built on cannot be computed. Everything below comes from the record instead.

2010 2020 win vs Ray Seraile (2004)win vs Jerry Vrbanovic (2004)loss vs Josh Curran (2006)win vs Jerome Smith (2006)win vs Jason Godsey (2006)win vs Michael Buchkovich (2006)win vs Antoine Jaoude (2007)win vs Bryan Vetell (2007)win vs Shane Ott (2007)loss vs Ben Rothwell (2007)win vs Mario Rinaldi (2007)win vs Vince Lucero (2007)loss vs Andrei Arlovski (2008)win vs Brad Imes (2008)win vs Fabiano Scherner (2008)win vs Brendan Schaub (2009)loss vs Jeff Monson (2009)win vs James McSweeney (2009)loss vs Junior dos Santos (2010)win vs Stefan Struve (2010)win vs Mirko Cro Cop (2011)loss vs Frank Mir (2011)win vs Matt Mitrione (2012)win vs Dave Herman (2012)loss vs Fabrício Werdum (2012)loss vs Daniel Cormier (2013)loss vs Stipe Miocic (2013)win vs Cheick Kongo (2013)loss vs Mark Hunt (2014)win vs Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (2014)loss vs Josh Barnett (2015)loss vs Alistair Overeem (2015)win vs Antônio Silva (2016)loss vs Derrick Lewis (2016)win vs Jared Rosholt (2016)win vs Javy Ayala (2017)loss vs Alexander Volkov (2017)loss vs Sergei Kharitonov (2018)loss vs Matt Mitrione (2018)loss vs Frank Mir (2019)loss vs Mirko Cro Cop (2019)loss vs Valentin Moldavsky (2020)loss vs Alan Belcher (2023)win vs Dillon Cleckler (2023)
winlossdraw / NC2004–2023

Record

MMA record

24–20

44 bouts on record

Finish rate

83%

of wins ended inside the distance — heavyweight MMA median 85%, 45th percentile

KO/TKO: 16 (67%)Submission: 4 (17%)Decision: 4 (17%)
  • KO/TKO 67%
  • Submission 17%
  • Decision 17%

The career, bout by bout

47 recorded bouts from 2004 to 2023. Every incumbent shows this as a table you have to read; here it is as a shape you can see.

Career span

20y

2004–2023

Longest unbeaten run

6

without a loss — draws do not break it

Busiest year

2007

6 bouts

Recorded bouts

47

44 with a date

Fights

YearResultOpponentMethodRd
2023 L Alan Belcher Decision3
2023 W Dillon Cleckler KO/TKO1
2020 L Valentin Moldavsky Decision3
2019 L Frank Mir Decision3
2019 L Mirko Cro Cop Decision3
2018 L Sergei Kharitonov KO/TKO1
2018 L Matt Mitrione Decision3
2017 W Javy Ayala Decision3
2017 L Alexander Volkov Decision3
2016 W Antônio Silva KO/TKO2
2016 L Derrick Lewis Decision3
2016 W Jared Rosholt Decision3
2015 L Josh Barnett Decision5
2015 L Alistair Overeem Decision3
2014 L Mark Hunt KO/TKO2
2014 W Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira KO/TKO1
2013 L Daniel Cormier Decision3
2013 L Stipe Miocic Decision3
2013 W Cheick Kongo KO/TKO1
2012 W Matt Mitrione KO/TKO1
2012 W Dave Herman KO/TKO1
2012 L Fabrício Werdum Decision3
2011 W Mirko Cro Cop KO/TKO3
2011 L Frank Mir Decision3
2010 L Junior dos Santos Decision3
2010 W Stefan Struve KO/TKO1
2009 W Brendan Schaub KO/TKO1
2009 L Jeff Monson Decision3
2009 W James McSweeney KO/TKO1
2008 L Andrei Arlovski KO/TKO2
2008 W Brad Imes KO/TKO1
2008 W Fabiano Scherner KO/TKO1
2007 W Antoine Jaoude KO/TKO2
2007 W Bryan Vetell KO/TKO3
2007 W Shane Ott Decision3
2007 L Ben Rothwell Decision3
2007 W Mario Rinaldi KO/TKO1
2007 W Vince Lucero KO/TKO1
2006 L Josh Curran Decision3
2006 W Jerome Smith Submission1
2006 W Jason Godsey Submission1
2006 W Michael Buchkovich Submission1
2004 W Ray Seraile Submission2
2004 W Jerry Vrbanovic Decision3
W Bo Cantrell Submission
W Justin Wren Decision5
W Kimbo Slice KO/TKO2

31 of these opponents have their own page here.

How this is worked out

  1. Measurements and records are read from the fighter's English Wikipedia infobox; the fight list is parsed from the article's own results table.
  2. Reach advantage is (reach − height) ÷ height as a percentage, so fighters of different sizes compare directly.
  3. Percentiles rank this fighter among the 324 heavyweight MMA fighters in the dataset — chosen because it is the most specific group of at least 30 that this fighter belongs to.
Reach advantage = (reach − height) ÷ height × 100

Full methodology →

Source: Roy Nelson on English Wikipedia (CC BY-SA 4.0), as of 2026-07-26. Percentiles and derived figures computed here.

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Amit Sharma

Auckland real-estate agent and marketer. Builds free, sourced data tools.