Kyle Nelson – Page 6 – Syndication Server

UFC on ESPN+ 35: Kyle Nelson virtual media day interview

Kyle Nelson spoke to the media ahead of Saturday’s UFC on ESPN+ 35 event in Las Vegas.

Billy Quarantillo vs. Kyle Nelson in the works for UFC event on Sept. 12

Featherweights are on tap for the UFC’s September 12 event in Las Vegas.

A featherweight fight is in the works for Sept. 12.

The UFC is targeting [autotag]Billy Quarantillo[/autotag] vs. Canadian [autotag]Kyle Nelson[/autotag] for its second September event at the UFC Apex in Las Vegas.

Sources with knowledge of the situation informed MMA Junkie of the targeted booking Thursday but asked to remain anonymous as the promotion has yet to make an official announcement.

Quarantillo (14-2 MMA, 2-0 UFC) would make his first walk to the cage since testing positive for COVID-19 in June. Quarantillo has won back-to-back fights in the UFC since being signed off of Dana White’s Contender Series in 2019, defeating Spike Carlyle and Jacob Kilburn.

Nelson (13-3 MMA, 1-2 UFC) would make his return to the cage for the first time since September 2019. After losing his first two UFC fights, Nelson knocked out Polo Reyes in 96 seconds at UFC on ESPN+ 17.

With the addition, the current Sept. 12 lineup includes:

Thiago Santos vs. Glover Teixeira
Andrea Lee vs. Roxanne Modafferi
Tyson Nam vs. Matt Schnell
Bruno Silva vs. Tagir Ulanbekov
Frank Camacho vs. Brok Weaver
Kyle Nelson vs. Billy Quarantillo

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49ers shouldn’t have to worry about kicking game next year

The 49ers ran into a minor issue early in their 2019 season. While everything else was going right for the team, veteran kicker Robbie Gould was having the worst year of his career. If the duration of the 2019 season tells us anything though, that …

Gould by Week 7 last season had a career-worst seven missed field goals. He missed one in each of the first two weeks, three in Week 5, and another one each in Weeks 6 and 7.

It looked like a long holdout had an adverse effect on what was one of the league’s most accurate kickers the previous two seasons. And perhaps an offseason-long battle that started with Gould getting the franchise tag and refusing to sign it before eventually getting a multi-year deal to stay in Santa Clara did impact the then 36-year-old.

There may have been something else at play though. San Francisco cycled through three different long snappers last year before the return of Kyle Nelson from a 10-game suspension that started late in the 2018 campaign.

Colin Holba, who took over for Nelson in 2018, handled the first two games of the 2019 season. Jon Condo stepped in for Week 3, but retired before he could suit up for another game. That opened the door for Garrison Sanborn, who took over for the final three weeks of Nelson’s suspension.

Gould went 12-for-19 on field goal tries while those three long snappers cycled through.

Nelson’s return in Week 8 at home against the Panthers prompted a massive turnaround for Gould. He finished the regular season 11-of-12 on field goals, with his lone miss coming on a 51-yard attempt in sloppy, rainy, windy conditions in Baltimore. Gould was also a perfect seven-for-seven in the postseason.

It may have been a coincidence, but Gould’s 18-for-19 to finish the year with Nelson doing the snapping makes it appear as though the long snapper played an instrumental role. With no suspensions due for Nelson leading into 2020, he’s slated to be the long snapper for the entire season.

Gould is entering the second year of his four-year deal that includes team options in the final two seasons. A strong 2020 season could be the difference in whether the 49ers keep the long-time veteran, or go on a kicker search next offseason. If Nelson was actually the answer to Gould’s woes, San Francisco should be set at kicker for the next couple seasons.

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