Dillon Cleckler says Roy Nelson bareknuckle MMA fight will be highlight of his career

Dillon Cleckler is a big man who has put away some other big men, but if he does it again Friday it will be his biggest win yet.

Cleckler, a little more than a month removed from a first-round knockout in his debut for Gamebred Boxing, will return to the bareknuckle side of things with a bareknuckle MMA fight under Jorge Masvidal’s Gamebred banner.

The 41-year-old Cleckler will take on former UFC and Bellator heavyweight Roy Nelson, the Season 10 winner of “The Ultimate Fighter,” on Friday at Gamebred Fighting Championship 4 in Sunrise, Fla.

Cleckler said the opportunity to fight Nelson on short notice was too good to pass up on.

“(It’s a) huge name,” Cleckler told MMA Junkie. “Before I even got into MMA, I was a fan of Roy’s. I love watching him fight – love watching him knock people out. Yeah, I was a huge fan of his.”

Cleckler said Nelson will have to get used to getting punched without gloves – something that wasn’t an issue when he was in MMA. Cleckler has 10 MMA fights on his resume, but also is 3-1 in bareknuckle boxing under the BKFC banner.

Cleckler’s most recent two BKFC wins in 2021 came in 24 seconds and 19 seconds – so it’s not like he knows a lot about getting hit without gloves, himself, because it’s hard to get hit a lot when putting opponents away that quickly.

“It’s not something you can really prepare for – to get hit without gloves,” Cleckler said. “You can’t really do nothing about that. It’s going to feel different. I couldn’t really offer any advice about how to prepare for that in any different way than just, you know, see how it feels.”

But the one thing Cleckler said he won’t be uncertain about is the quality of opponent he has in front of him, given Nelson’s extensive resume.

“This is probably the top of my career, for sure: huge name, huge platform. I’m excited about it.”