Gunnar Nelson is expected to make his return to the octagon against Claudio Silva at the upcoming UFC London card scheduled for March 19.
Multiple sources confirmed the news to MMA Fighting with verbal agreements in place from the fighters. The matchup was announced via Twitter on Monday.
Long considered one of the premiere grapplers in the sport, Nelson has been a mainstay in the UFC’s welterweight division since 2012 but he’s been out of action for nearly three years while dealing with injuries. Nelson recently revealed that his return to action was delayed by a session with Hafthor Julius Bjornsson in which he grappled. Bjornsson is most well-known for playing “The Mountain” in “Game of Thrones.
During that session, Nelson sustained a rib injury during a grappling match against his plus-pound opponent. This prevented Nelson from fighting in January.
After signing a multi-fight agreement with UFC, Nelson will be returning to the ring in March. After losing back-to back decisions to Gilbert Burns and Leon Edwards, Nelson will be looking to return to the winning column.
As for Silva, he will also attempt to get back to his winning ways in March after he fell to Court McGee and James Krause in his last two appearances in the octagon. Prior to those setbacks, Silva had gone on a 14-fight undefeated streak including five straight wins in the UFC.
Nelson vs. Silva is the latest addition to a growing UFC London card that will be headlined by heavyweights Tom Aspinall and Alexander Volkov.
