StarBulletin.com

Nelson gets chance to move up ... again


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POSTED: Thursday, August 06, 2009

Shane Nelson thought he had just finished a dominating win to move up the lightweight rankings.

Instead, he has to do it again.

Nelson (13-3, 2-0 UFC) will face Aaron Riley (27-11-1, 1-3) in a rematch of a March fight that Nelson won by TKO in 44 seconds.

Nelson dropped Riley with a hard punch and pounced on top of him to finish with strikes. The referee immediately jumped in to stop the bout even though Riley appeared to have recovered. After many complaints from Riley's camp, the UFC decided to book the rematch.

“;I hit him with a good shot and he went down,”; Nelson said. “;He looked like he was aware and what not, but the referee pulled me off. It was a tough call, but we can do it again.”;

Nelson's fight will be the first of the three fights featuring Hawaii fighters and is the only one that may not be televised on pay-per-view.

Riley, who has competed at 185 pounds against fighters such as Robbie Lawler and Niko Vitale, will look to use his experience advantage to help prove the first fight wasn't legit.

“;I just have to come out more hungry this time,”; Nelson said. “;He's trying to prove it was a fluke and I have to prove it wasn't.”;