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Dana White: UFC 166's Roy Nelson is 'no genius,' cost him 'a lot of money'

Dana White claims that Roy Nelson was unsure of his contract status with a previous promoter and cost the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) a ton of money.

Andrew Richardson-USA TODAY Spor

Dana White and Roy Nelson are at it again.

Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White held a media scrum at the UFC 166 'Media Day' in Houston, TX. He spoke about a variety of topics, and naturally, Roy Nelson's name was tossed out.

It's no surprise that White and Nelson don't always see eye to eye. White has been very critical of the heavyweight in the past and there were some concerns that maybe the promotion wouldn't re-sign him after the loss to Stipe Miocic. Obviously, Nelson re-upped, but White is still upset he let his contract lapse.

When I talk about Roy rolling the dice, it's like Roy waited until the end of his contract. We owed him a fight, and we offered him a fight. If he didn't take it, we'd had to extend his contract. So he took the fight (on short notice) instead. I just feel like he played the whole thing the wrong way, when he didn't need to play it that way.

Roy's no genius, okay? Roy didn't even know that he didn't have to take the (Miocic) fight (on short notice). Roy didn't even know that. There's a lot of things that Roy doesn't know. He doesn't know grooming, he doesn't know about his contract, there's a lot of things he doesn't know about.

While it's accepted that Nelson and White won't ever have a working relationship, it's always interesting how critical White can be when talking about the heavyweight. And this criticism probably is more a dig at Nelson's team than of the man himself, as he shouldn't have to worry about contract status while in camp.

But White's other story about Nelson seems to be an underlying factor in their strained relationship. Nelson competed on The Ultimate Fighter while under contract with another promoter. With filming completed, it would have put the entire season in jeopardy.

You realize Roy came out of The Ultimate Fighter, and had a contract with another promoter and didn't know it. Did you know that? I had to buy that other promoter out for Roy's contract duringThe Ultimate Fighter, okay? That's how smart Roy Nelson is, and I could go on for days, and as he starts asking me (the next) question I'll probably think of four more things on how smart Roy Nelson is. Roy Nelson cost me a lot of money.

Nelson fights Cormier on the UFC 166 pay-per-view (PPV) 'main card' tomorrow night at the Toyoto Center in Houston, TX.

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