Pascal Krauss Welcomes Grappling Wiz Gunnar Nelson to Octagon at UFC on Fuel TV 5

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After suffering the first loss of his professional MMA career in May, German welterweight Pascal Krauss will make his return to the Octagon in September to take on Icelandic newcomer Gunnar Nelson.

Krauss confirmed Saturday that the bout will be part of UFC on Fuel TV 5 “Struve vs. Miocic,” which takes place Sept. 29 at Capital FM Arena in Nottingham, England.

The bout will mark Krauss’ third outing for the American promotion, and his first fight in the U.K. since May 2010, when he won the Cage Warriors Fighting Championship welterweight title in Birmingham, England. The 25-year-old former German junior boxing champion was last seen returning from a 17-month injury layoff against Englishman John Hathaway. The “Hitman” made the most of the young German’s ring rust, out-boxing and out-wrestling “Panzer” en route to a unanimous decision.

Nelson, 23, has mainly focused on grappling competition in recent years, winning the Pan-American Jiu-Jitsu Championship with and without the gi in 2009, as well as taking fourth place in the absolute category of the 2009 ADCC Submission Wrestling World Championship. In the latter competition, Nelson surprised many by defeating the much heavier former UFC heavyweight contender Jeff Monson.

In February, Nelson made his return to MMA, submitting Ukrainian sambist Alexander Butenko in the first round of their main event fight at Cage Contender 12 in Dublin.

“I am well aware that Nelson isn’t just one of the top prospects, but also one of the top up-and-coming black belts competing in MMA,” Krauss told Sherdog.com. “I have trained with many outstanding grapplers myself, like Dean Lister and Ben Askren, though, and fighting in the UFC is not a jiu-jitsu competition, so I’m really looking forward to welcoming Gunnar to the Octagon!”

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