Cro Cop vs. Nelson Confirmed For UFC 137

Nelson, Cro Cop confirmed for UFC 137

UFC heavyweights Roy Nelson and Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic will face off at UFC 137.

HeavyMMA confirmed the news with Nelson on Wednesday.

The fight will take place on the pay per view portion of the card that is headlined by a UFC welterweight title bout between Georges St-Pierre and former Strikeforce champion Nick Diaz. The event takes place October 29 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas.

“Mirko is a PRIDE Legend and it’s an honor just to be mentioned in the same sentence as him. In the fight with Brendan, he was in it all the way up until the end. The same goes for the Mir fight, so Cro Cop is still dangerous,” Nelson told HeavyMMA.com on Wednesday.

“He’s older and I’m a little bit older, too, so I think it just comes down to what he wants out of his career and what I want out of mine. He’s a fighter that always brings it and his striking is definitely still dangerous.”

Nelson will try to avoid losing his third straight fight. He came up short in a title eliminator bout against Junior dos Santos last August, and then lost a fight to Frank Mir when cardio issues caused him trouble early and often. Nelson revealed after the bout that he’d been suffering from an illness that directly led to his cardio issues.

The legendary Cro Cop will also try to avoid his third straight loss after going down to Frank Mir and Brendan Schaub. UFC President Dana White said that Filipovic was finished in the UFC after his loss to Schaub, but apparently has relented and is allowing the striker to finish out his UFC contract.

“Cro Cop is a different beast,” Nelson said. “He’s a southpaw and right leg hospital, left leg cemetery so it’s something you’re always going to worry about.”