00:00Cro-Cop 37, Nelson is 35, Cro-Cop weighting at 235, Nelson at 252, reach is identical.
00:16Once again with the official introductions, Bruce Buffer.
00:22Ladies and gentlemen, this fight is three rounds in the UFC heavyweight division.
00:27Introducing first, fighting out of the blue corner, a Kung Fu fighter holding a professional record, 16 wins, 6 losses.
00:35Standing 6 feet tall, weighing in at 252 pounds.
00:39Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada, ladies and gentlemen, he is the ultimate fighter, season 10 winner, Roy Big Country Nelson!
00:50And now introducing his opponent, fighting out of the red corner.
00:58This man is a striker, holding a professional record, 29 wins, 9 losses, 2 draws and 1 no contest.
01:06He stands 6 feet 2 inches tall, weighing in at 235 pounds.
01:10Fighting out of Zagreb, Croatia.
01:11Ladies and gentlemen, he is the 2006 Pride Openweight Grand Prix Champion, Mirko Cro-Cop!
01:26And when the action begins, our referee in charge, Steve Mazzagati.
01:31Steve Mazzagati, our referee.
01:34Go back there, Michael.
01:34Mirko Cro-Cop!
01:38Against Big Country, Roy Nelson!
01:42Alright, here we go!
01:43And bring it on, come on!
01:44And here we go!
01:46Mirko Cro-Cop!
01:47In the black trunks.
01:50White trunks for Big Country, Roy Nelson!
01:53Big Country!
01:55Spent some time training with Frank Mir for this fight, and as I mentioned, Pat Berry spent a lot of time sparring with Mirko Cro-Cop!
02:04They were spirited sparring sessions, but Pat has also said, he also beat me up a lot!
02:11So both men have fought against former guys, they came into their corners, or at least into their camps, Joe, for this matchup.
02:18Along with a solid left high kick, Mirko Cro-Cop also has an excellent straight left.
02:24He used it to break the orbital of Bob Sapp and stop him in their kickboxing bout.
02:32And he's looking to uncork it here, you can see him with a round in the chamber.
02:39Nelson is excellent with his submission skills if the fight goes down.
02:43But the one thing that isn't talked about a lot, he gets a takedown here.
02:47He's got a solid ground game on him.
02:49Look at this, Mirko gets it to guard.
02:51What?
02:52Mirko's always said, because with so many highlight reel knockouts, Joe, everybody wants to think he's just a striker.
02:59He is a complete mixed martial artist who's been doing jiu-jitsu forever.
03:02Good closed guard here by Mirko Cro-Cop.
03:07Well, his ground game has certainly improved since the first time we ever saw him against Vandale Silva.
03:12When they had, it was kind of a strange hybrid sort of a rule where they could only fight on the ground for a short amount of time before they were stood back up again.
03:22Because he didn't want to have a full MMA fight.
03:25And then slowly along the line during his pride career with all the hard training in jiu-jitsu,
03:29he got to the point where he was dangerous in submitting guys.
03:33Like he submitted Kevin Randleman in one of their pride fights.
03:38Big Country in top position, closed guard right now for Cro-Cop.
03:42Big Country knows how to put that weight on you, too.
03:44He knows how to hold you in position.
03:47And if Cro-Cop opens up his legs and gets frustrated, Big Country will pass.
03:51Big Country, a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Henzo Gracie.
03:59What Big Country has to be careful, though, is that Mazzagata doesn't stand them up.
04:04And all this work to get to the ground, he's got to make sure he keeps working.
04:08Yeah, and he trained with Ricky Lundell, who's very good with Brazilian jiu-jitsu, for this fight tonight.
04:16Nelson has outstanding submission skills.
04:18But he lost control.
04:22Cro-Cop is up.
04:25Brilliant job by Mirko getting back up to his feet.
04:29And he lands a left hand.
04:30Yeah, a little mouse under the eye of Roy Nelson from that left hand, Joe.
04:34So far, no kicks, and there's one, right when I said it.
04:43And a powerful one with that.
04:45Yeah, good straight left.
04:47Yeah, Mirko starting to tee off a little bit with his striking.
04:51As we approach under...
04:53Oh, man!
04:55He stepped in with a haymaker, and Cro-Cop responds with a nice uppercut.
05:00Under 145 now.
05:02Here in the first, Roy Nelson doing a lot of striking training with Jimmy Gifford out here in Las Vegas.
05:10And he timed that big right hand perfectly a moment ago.
05:16When Mirko faints and Roy covers up with a high guard,
05:22that's when Mirko is likely to plant that powerful kick into the midsection.
05:26And the way Cro-Cop circles, he circles into the right hand of Roy Nelson.
05:33He does, and he circles to plant so he can stop and fire off his kicks and punches.
05:38Oh, big uppercut!
05:39Nice uppercut right there.
05:42So far, a disciplined fight by Mirko Cro-Cop.
05:45He truly wants to give the UFC fans what he calls the old Mirko Cro-Cop.
05:51Put on a huge performance here tonight in Vegas.
05:58Cro-Cop slipped.
05:59Big Country closing the distance.
06:08Straight left again.
06:09Big Country's picking up the tempo here.
06:13And he knows the clock is under a minute now, so it's a great time to do so.
06:17Another straight left by Mirko.
06:19That's the perfect punch for the southpaw against the orthodox fighter.
06:26Even better when you're Mirko Cro-Cop.
06:28Mirko, though, is not utilizing the jab at all.
06:30Very few jabs thrown.
06:32He's just constantly trying to unload that one punch.
06:34There's that powerful left kick.
06:38Final seconds of round one of this heavyweight battle.
06:46Cro-Cop in Country.
06:48Ready for round two.
06:56Rinse and repeat.
06:57The instruction from Roy Nelson's corner.
07:04And again, watch for the big right hand.
07:06There it is.
07:07Big right hand, but Cro-Cop got him back.
07:10Uppercut by Cro-Cop.
07:12Roy's doing a good job of coming up, but Cro-Cop swarming on him.
07:15All those uppercuts are landing.
07:16Oh, that one got through.
07:17To the body now.
07:19Beautiful left hook to the body.
07:20And again to the body.
07:22Wow.
07:23Solid shot to the body by Mirko.
07:26Roy was covering up, and Mirko went downstairs brilliantly.
07:30And another good uppercut.
07:31You saw the head snap back.
07:32Roy is a mess.
07:34Roy is a mess.
07:38He is a bloody mess.
07:39Frenetic pace by Cro-Cop trying to finish the fight there.
07:42I'll tell you what.
07:43Who takes punches better than Roy Nelson, man?
07:46That guy took Junior Dos Santos' best, and now he's taking some bombs from Cro-Cop.
07:51Tried to finish with the hook.
07:57Big start to round two for Cro-Cop.
08:02He's tired.
08:03You're giving him time to rest, is what the coroner of Nelson said with Cro-Cop trying to finish the fight a moment ago.
08:14But when you get hit like that, you've got to regather yourself as well.
08:17Cro-Cop's openings are limited because of the fact that he doesn't utilize the jab.
08:28He allows Roy to only worry about the weapon coming from one side.
08:34He very rarely throws right hooks, and very rarely throws jabs.
08:37And that whole exchange, the one that was basically a bunch of damage done to Big Country from Mirko,
08:44started with a big right hand from Roy Nelson.
08:47As he came over the top with the overhand right.
08:54Under three on the clock here in the second.
08:56There's that high kick.
08:58Look how fast that comes up, too.
09:00The most famous head kick maybe in MMA history.
09:03The left leg of Cro-Cop, right?
09:05Yeah, I mean, that guy's highlight reel is just ridiculous.
09:12Just about to the midway point of this fight.
09:15And with Nelson training with Frank Mir, it was a great opportunity to train against a southpaw,
09:22much like Mirko Cro-Cop.
09:23Roy's working very hard here for the takedown.
09:37Pulling in at the knee, Roy!
09:40Come on, Roy! Level change! Level change!
09:44And you hear Roy's corners yell, level change, and he gets him down.
09:48And right into your half guard.
09:50Trying to get to side control.
09:51He steps right over.
09:53Side control for Big Country.
09:55And Big Country will crush you in this position.
09:58He's so good at positioning and holding guys down.
10:01And he's pushing down the right arm of Mirko Cro-Cop.
10:06He's got an excellent Kimura.
10:08And I believe he will try to use that.
10:10The way he's tying up the left arm of Mirko.
10:13He's going to step over into the crucivix position.
10:15Chip away! Chip away!
10:17He's trying to pin down that right arm and put it in between his legs.
