Gunnar Nelson - Elite MMA Fighter!

Gunnar Nelson has had his fair share of victories and defeats throughout his BJJ fighting career. The Icelandic talent started as a karate practitioner and fought his way to the highest platforms of mixed martial arts. Today he is an elite UFC fighter with an MMA record of (18-05-01).

On July 28, 1988, Iceland welcomed a professional mixed martial arts (MMA) champion into the world. Gunnar Nelson or Gunni for short. Gunnar was born in Akureyri to Haraldur Dean Nelson (Anglo-American), and Guðrún Hulda Gunnarsdóttir Nelson (Icelandic). He spent a major chunk of his early life in Reykjavik, the capital of Iceland.

Nelson was blessed with athleticism, playing football and ice hockey during his childhood. At the age of 13, he became inclined to train in Goju-Ryu Karate and earned three consecutive wins in the Icelandic Juvenile Kumite Championship from 2003 to  2005. In 2004, the 16-year-old athlete was selected as Iceland’s most promising up-coming-karate talent of the year.

At the age of 17, Nelson risked his thriving karate career and took a leap of faith to train in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu. Nelson was determined to carve a successful BJJ career for himself. To fulfill this purpose, he frequently flew abroad in search of the best trainers.

One lucky trip to the United Kingdom led him to Matt Thornton of Straight Blast Gym International. Thornton awarded Nelson a blue belt in 2006 and a purple belt in 2007.

The paths of Gunnar Nelson and John Kavanagh - Nelson’s second and current head coach - coincided during a BJJ seminar at Mjolnir. Kavanagh was Matt Thornton’s student and the owner of SBG Ireland. Nelson’s MMA career was flourishing even as a purple belt and grew even more under Kavanagh’s instruction. He received his brown belt from Kavanagh in 2008.

Under IBJJF rules, Kavanagh was not eligible to elevate Nelson to the black belt level since he had not been a black belt for more than six years. Therefore, Nelson, with his trainer’s consent, joined the Renzo Gracie Academy in New York. As expected, his MMA career grew even more.

With Renzo at the helm of BJJ training Nelson competed in prestigious international championships. As a brown belt, he won a silver medal in the 2009 Mundials.

Nelson also won a gold and a silver medal in the 2009 Pan American (Gi and No-Gi) Championships.

Nelson secured 4th place in the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship by defeating BJJ black belts Jeff Monson and David Avellan.

Satisfied by these achievements, Master Renzo promoted Nelson to the black belt level in 2009, making him the youngest European to receive a black belt.

In 2011, Nelson again secured 4th place in the ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. Although he didn’t win any medals, Nelson received much praise simply for besting Finnish Champion Marko Helen and World Champion Bruno Frazzato.

In addition to being a BJJ black belt, Nelson worked extremely hard to become a black belt in Goju-Ryu karate. With his jiu-jitsu career reaching new heights, Nelson explored other opportunities that mixed martial arts had to offer. May 2007 marked the beginning of Nelson’s professional MMA career when he fought the first match against John Olesen in Denmark. Judges ruled the match as a draw.

The debut fight was a confidence booster as Nelson won the next five fights in Denmark, Ireland, and the United Kingdom.

Nelson took a break after many remarkable victories and returned to the game at BAMMA 2: Roundhouses at the Roundhouse in 2010. He worked his magic in the first round and subdued Sam Elsdon. At Cage Contender 6, he overpowered Danny Mitchell. Later that year at BAMMA 4: Reid vs Watson, Nelson confronted and subdued a tough British combatant named Eugene Fadiora in the first round.

Nelson took another break and returned to MMA in 2012 to give his opponent, Alexander Butenko, a taste of a successful armbar in the first round of Cage Contender 12, Ireland. 

In 2012, Nelson signed a multi-fight contract with the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). He made his debut at UFC on Fuel TV 5 against Damarques Johnson. He subdued Johnson with a calculated rear-naked choke, leaving his fans in awe.

In 2013, at UFC on Fuel - Barao vs McDonald, Nelson scored a victory by unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 30-27) against Jorge Santiago, a former Sengoku middleweight champion.

Nelson’s next contest was at UFC Fight Night 37 against Omari Akhmedov in 2014. He finished his rival with a conclusive guillotine choke and earned his first Performance of the Night award.

This award was presented to Nelson again for defeating Zak Cummings through a genius rear-naked choke in the second round.

In 2015, at UFC 189, Nelson submitted Brandon Thatch via rear-naked choke.

In December 2015, at UFC 194, Nelson lost the highly-anticipated bout against Demian Maia via unanimous decision. However, the defeat paved the way to another victory.

In 2016, at UFC Fight Night 87, Nelson submitted Albert Tumenov to earn his third Performance of the Night award. The fourth Performance of the Night bonus was presented to him after he showcased a brilliant guillotine choke to defeat his opponent in mere minutes.

The same year at UFC Fight Night 53, Nelson experienced the first defeat of his MMA career at the hands of Rick Story through a split decision.

In 2017, at UFC Fight Night 113, Santiago Ponzinibbio knocked out Nelson in the first round. After losing the battle, Nelson shed some light on the reason for his defeat at the post-contest press conference. He claimed that Santiago had poked him in the eye and further said:

He took his case to the UFC but his appeal was denied.

After the 2017 debacle, Nelson redeemed himself at the UFC 231 held in 2018. A well-played rear-naked choke was all it took to defeat Alex Oliveira.

In 2019, at UFC Fight Night 147, he lost the fight to Leon Edwards by a split decision. At UFC Fight Night 160, Gilbert Burns managed to win against Nelson via unanimous decision.

Nelson stayed away from the MMA scene for more than two years. After his comeback, his first fight was against Claudio Silva. Silva reported a knee injury and was replaced by Takashi Sato.

The year 2022 marked another stunning victory for Nelson against Sato via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 204. This fight was extremely important for his MMA career as he was unable to secure a UFC win in 2019 due to injuries and a decision setback. Nelson had a lot to prove and with this victory, the MMA star did just that.

The black belt Nelson demonstrated excellent striking and grappling skills in an intense UFC welterweight fight at the UFC on Fuel TV 7 McDonald. He defeated Jorge Santiago in the third round via unanimous decision.

In 2014, the UFC promotion arranged an epic welterweight fight between black belt Gunnar Nelson and an equally accomplished martial artist Zak Cummings. The epic match lived up to the expectations. The duo faced each other at UFC Fight Night 46 - Mc Gregor.

Nelson dominated Cummings with a lethal rear-naked choke in the second round and won the bout.

In 2010, Gunnar Nelson confronted Sam Elsdon at the BAMMA 2 - Roundhouses event. The welterweight bout between the two aggressive martial artists was quite a challenge. Nelson outdid Elsdon’s game and quickly dominated him in the first round. He then proceeded to claim the win and successfully finished the match via rear-naked choke.

Nelson is not just a fighter but an excellent trainer, too. He cross-teaches Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and mixed martial arts at Mjolnir, SBG Ireland, Renzo Gracie Academy, and  SBG Mainline, Manchester.

(Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu)

• World Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Gi)
• Pan American Championship (Gi)
• North American Grappling Association
• Pan American Championship (No-Gi)

MMA

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
• Nordic MMA

• World Champion
• Pan America Champion
• Scandinavian Open.
• Pan American No-Gi Champion

Event	Year	Medal/ Record
World Jiu-Jitsu Championship (Gi)	2009	1 Silver Medal
Pan American Championship (Gi)	2009	1 Gold Medal
Pan American Championship (No-Gi)	2009	1 Gold Medal
Pan American Championship	2009	1 Silver Medal
Scandinavian Open	2009	1 Silver Medal

He won the North American Grappling Association (NAGA) Middleweight Championship once.

He won the Pan American Gi Championship once.

He won the Pan American No-Gi Championship once.

He won the UFC Performance of the Night award four times.

He won two Nordic MMA Awards.

Gunnar Nelson vs Clark Gracie

Gunnar Nelson vs Michael Russell

Photo credit: @gunninelson