Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson, who stands at 6’9″ and weighs 350 lbs, sparred with MMA fighter Gunnar Nelson, 170 lbs. There was a bit of an oopsie.
Game of Thrones fans still remember “The Mountain and the Viper,” the episode where Gregor “the Mountain” Clegane (Hafþór Júlíus Björnsson) brutally kills Oberyn Martell (Pedro Pascal) in single combat, and just when Oberyn had him where he wanted him, too! After watching that scene, I’m surprised anyone would want to get into the ring with Björnsson, and not just because it’s so memorably grisly. The guy stands at 6’9″ and weighs 350 lbs, and that’s after cutting a lot of weight to start in on his exhibition boxing career.
And yet, Icelandic mixed martial arts fighter Gunnar Nelson sparred with Björnsson not long ago. For reference, Nelson is 5’11” and weighs 170 lbs. I know they were just having a friendly sparring match, but I think I’d pretty intimidated, MMA training or no!
And as Nelson told MMA Hour, he was injured during their sparring match; he heard a pop in his ribs after Björnsson fell on top of him…twice. “Something in me was like: ‘I’m not going to say anything now,'” Nelson recalled. “I’m just thinking: ‘I have to wait for him to show his neck, and we can get this over with. Because it’s too late to stop now and say I hurt myself.'”
"It’s hard to stop when you’re in it. Like, not that we were going crazy, but it’s just, you know… It was not his fault or anything. It just happened. He wasn’t going spastic or anything. He’s just 160 kilos [approximately 350 pounds]. He was just trying to do his best there."
Okay, I am not a professional fighter, so I don’t know the rules of the game, but I’m having a hard time wrapping my head around that one. If I hear a pop in my ribs I am stopping whatever we are doing, whether it’s fighting or freeze tag. No more! Pop means stop!
Happily, it sounds like Nelson is recovering fine, and obviously he’s in good spirits. As for Björnsson, he’ll be having an exhibition boxing match against fellow professional strongman Eddie Hall sometime in 2022.
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h/t CBR