Verbal agreements are in place for a light heavyweight matchup for December’s upcoming UFC 140 event.
Former UFC champ Tito ‘The Huntington Beach Bad’ Ortiz (16-9-1) and Antônio Rogério ‘Little Nog’ Nogueira (19-5) were announced by UFC officials late Friday night at UFC.com.
Both men had been scheduled to meet last spring in the headliner of UFC Fight Night 24 but Ortiz was forced to pull out after suffering a large cut to his head during training. Ortiz was replaced by Phil ‘Mr. Wonderful’ Davis.
UFC 140 is scheduled to take place on December 10 at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, Ontario, Canada. The event marks the promotions second event ever in Toronto, both of which will occur in 2011.
Ortiz has seen a resurgence in his career after ending a five year winless drought last June. Coming in as the heavy underdog to Ryan Bader at UFC 132, ‘The Huntington Beach Bad Boy’ was able to pull out a huge victory by submitting ‘Darth’ with a first round guillotine choke. Ortiz would then step up as a late replacement for Phil Davis at UFC 133, but would lose by second round TKO to Rashad Evans.
Nogueira hasn’t fought since the UFC Fight Night 24 event against ‘Mr. Wonderful’, where he would lose a unanimous decision to the undefeated wrestler. That marked ‘Little Nog’s’ second straight loss in the Octagon after suffering a unanimous decision defeat to Bader one year ago at UFC 119. Before that Brazilian had won seven straight including two in the Octagon.