Cheick Kongo vs. Roy Nelson could take place at UFC 116
by Jacob Camargo on April 25, 2010

The Ultimate Fighter 10 winner Roy Nelson will look to continue his climb up the ranks of the UFC heavyweight division, as he is in talks to next face 12-fight Octagon veteran Cheick Kongo at UFC 116 in July. The news comes courtesy of a report on Fighters Only.

Nelson (15-4) is currently on a two-fight winning streak, picking up wins in his first two UFC fights. The noted ground fighter's power has been on display in his victories as he scored a win over Brendan Schaub via first round knockout to take the TUF 10 heavyweight tournament at December's "The Ultimate Fighter" season 10 finale, and then against Stefan Struve in his next outing at UFC Fight Night 21 where he notched a first round TKO over the promising 6'11" Dutch youngster.

Prior to his wins inside the Octagon, Nelson lost two straight fights against Andrei Arlovski and Jeff Monson. Besides stints in EliteXC and Bodog Fight, he first truly made his mark in the MMA world while competing for the now-defunct IFL promotion where he captured the organization's heavyweight title and put together a stellar 6-1 record.

Kongo (15-6-1), who recently signed a new six-fight contract with the UFC, is coming off of a win over Paul Buentello at UFC on Versus 1. He previously lost back-to-back fights against Cain Velasquez at UFC 99 and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir at UFC 107.

Kongo has put together a 8-4 UFC record since debuting with the promotion in July 2006, scoring other notable Octagon wins coming over Mostapha Al Turk, Antoni Hardonk, Assuerio Silva and Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic. His other UFC losses came against Carmelo Marrero and Heath Herring. The French striker has finished 12 of his 15 career wins including nine by TKO or KO.

Though not officially announced, UFC 116 is expected take place on July 3 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, and the event's main card will air live on PPV.

The event will likely be headlined by a UFC heavyweight title unification bout between UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim heavyweight champ Shane Carwin.

Make sure to check back with us the day of the event for free, live, round-by-round coverage of UFC 116 right here at FiveKnuckles.com! Join expert analyst Mike Williams as he takes you through the entire fight card blow-by-blow and then keep it right here for all the post-fight news and notes you can handle!

 |  (23) Comments D_V: I hope for Nelson here. It's a weird one though. good match up in a lot of ways. The Hitman: I saw this one coming from a mile away. Shot be a great fight. Tonika Fatale: Lol that will be interesting... Elvis Freshley: If by good match you mean Nelson-Slice II: Electric Boogaloo, than yeah, I'm looking forward to this fight :p. Crimsonred: I like this one, I think Roy Nelson has it. He has pretty good power in his hands, and his striking is pretty technical, which will be useful. Kongo's wrestling is not half as good, and so if he wants, I think Roy could possibly take this to the ground. It'll be interesting though, because Kongo is probably the better striker; then again, Nelson has shown in his last two fights that he can knock "better strikers" the fuck out. Ares: Nelson will take this to the ground with relative ease and finish Kongo there. Kongo's groundgame, whilst improved, is nowhere near the level of Nelson's. Nelson may have been knocking people out recently, but I think facing a solid striker like Kongo he will look to take this to the ground. IwishIwasMMA: I got Nelson because he has options. Kongo has two options... take you down and GNP, or stand. If he cant get either going, he is a sitting duck. Elvis Freshley: If you honestly think that Nelson is going to be stupid enough to stand with Cheick when he obviously holds the advantage (and I mean by a tremendous margin) on the ground than I don't know what to tell you. Nelson is a smart fighter who cares about winning, his gameplan is going to be to take Kongo down and belly choke the fuck out of him. I love Chieck, but Roy will have his way with him, just watch. HackBennys: Looks like a pretty good fight for Roy. And that Schaub pic in the article is hilarious. horizontalcracker: You guys are welcome to join my sig's club before 116 Crimsonred: Yeah, but he at least seems like a fun douche. Frank Mir will just fart in your cereal and be done with it, but Roy will laugh at himself too. IDK, I like him, he's an ass-kicking fat man! (No offense to Mir there, he's okay, but he seemed to like breaking Sylvia's arm a bit too much)
HOW WILL THE THIAGO ALVES VS. MARTIN KAMPMANN FIGHT END AT UFC ON FX 2?
Alves def. Kampmann via TKO/KO
Alves def. Kampmann via submission
Alves def. Kampmann via decision
Kampmann def. Alves via TKO/KO
Kampmann def. Alves via submission
Kampmann def. Alves via decision
TAKE ANOTHER POLL!