UFC 137 Fight Card: What Roy Nelson Must Do to Beat Mirko Cro Cop

Roy Nelson has his back against the wall tonight when he faces legend Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 137 in his home town of Las Vegas, NV. Many people believe Nelson's spot in UFC  is on the line tonight and a loss will mean his release from the organization.

In order for Nelson to beat Cro Cop and retain his job, he must stay on top of the legend both literally and figuratively in the fight tonight. Cro Cop is a counter striker and likes to unleash his offense in counter attacks that are geared towards knocking a man out.

Cro Cop will wait and counter and wait and counter and Nelson must not give him the opportunity to recharge in between those exchanges. Big Country must push the pace and leave no distance for Mirko to work. Then, Nelson must take him down and smother him from the top with offense.

If Nelson can stay in Cro Cop's face with pace and activity and then use his jiu-jitsu to control position on the ground, he will be able to smother and discourage Cro Cop and gain the victory. Mirko has a tendency to mentally check out if the fight is not going his way, and this is the key to victory for Nelson.

If Nelson employs a stalking, look for the knockout type of game plan he will be playing Cro Cop's game, and he will lose the fight.

Nelson is 15-6 in his career and should be fairly fresh, while Cro Cop is 27-9 and has experienced much more wear and tear in his career. Nelson needs to be the younger, more active fighter to save his job.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and correspondent for MMACanada.net.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.