Anyone who is familiar with the work of Gunnar Nelson knows that he cares little for the noise that surrounds being a UFC fighter in this day and age.
Gunni just wants to fight, and he doesn't need to hate his opponent or convince anyone else that he does to motivate himself to perform, that much was clear from his comically low-key staredown with his opponent at UFC London, Alan Jouban.
Jouban is of a similar respectful mindset when it comes to MMA, so it was clear that there were no ill feelings between the two fighters before, after, or indeed during their fight on Saturday night, as the SBG man has since revealed that he chose to dive on the submission rather than jump in with a flurry of strikes because they were not needed.
Nelson knew he had already badly hurt Jouban, and, knowing that the Canadian has a secondary career as a model for Versace, did not want to inflict any unnecessary damage to his face.
At the point it was just the most obvious opening for me. I thought the way it went was the most clinical.
Instead of running into him and throwing a bunch of shots to get the knockout, he was out, there was no need to give him a few more punches to the fact.
He's a pretty guy as well, he's a model you know? There was no need.
A class act.
Nelson had already been shown a lot of love on social media for releasing the submission the instant Jouban tapped rather than wait for the ref to stop the fight, as Nelson's reactions were quicker than that of the official in the ring.
It shows why he is so well liked, aside from his world-class jiu-jitsu and grappling, of course.
It will be interesting to see what lies in store for Gunni, as John Kavanagh has already floated the idea of an extremely interesting fight with Stephen 'Wonderboy' Thompson who has just come out on the wrong end of two very close battles with welterweight champ Tyron Woodley.
Nelson, however, doesn't have a particular opponent in mind and claimed he just wants to make sure he gets two more fights this year when asked at the press conference.
You can watch Gunnar Nelson's post-fight interview below, and we'd recommend it, as his story about the fire alarm in the hotel going off the night before his fight is a good one.
