Written by Gunnar Nelson | Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Gunnar Nelson has lost another fight booking.
The 18-year pro, no stranger to bout changes, announced Thursday he has been forced to withdraw from his UFC 318 bout against Neil Magny due to a hamstring injury. Nelson explained the news via Instagram, following an initial report by Octagon Update.
“I won’t get into any crazy details about the injury but I’ll tell you it’s a two-part injury, so there is a tear in one of the muscles in the hamstring, which is a Grade 2b injury,” Nelson said. “It’s not too bad, so it’s possibly something that we could have worked with.
“However, the second injury is on the tendon inside the muscle, which is a full thickness tear, so a Grade 4c injury and that’s a more serious one. Basically, I’m absolutely useless when it comes to any type of grappling scenarios. I’m not able to wrestle or grapple or kick and apparently it will be another eight weeks at least until I can comfortably have any type of grappling training at full speed. At least eight weeks.”
Nelson, 36, is coming off of a decision loss to Kevin Holland this past March. It was just the third time “Gunni” had stepped into the octagon since 2022. The loss snapped a two-fight win streak for Nelson, who owns a 10-6 UFC record.
It is not yet known if a replacement opponent will be found for Magny or if his bout with Nelson will be re-booked. Nelson hopes to be able to compete before the end of 2025.
“The good news is I won’t have to do surgery so I’ll hopefully be good to go at the end of the year or late this year, so that’s my plan,” Nelson said. “That’s the aim. I’m optimistic that I’ll get this sorted in a few months, in a couple of months.”
UFC 318 takes place July 19 at Smoothie King Center in New Orleans and is headlined by “BMF” champion Max Holloway fighting Dustin Poirier in a trilogy bout that serves as the final fight of Poirier’s career.