The Nogueira brothers, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antônio Rogério Nogueira, are the best pair of brother-fighters in mixed martial arts history. They’re the only pair of identical twins to both post highly successful MMA careers.
Not only do they look exactly alike, but their parents apparently thought it would be amusing to name them both after their father Antônio. With only the subtlest of differences in their given middle names, there is no way to differentiate between the two by using their given names. They even have the same moniker—Minotauro.
For those who are unfamiliar with the brothers, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira has been dubbed “Big Nog” because he fights at Heavyweight. Antônio Rogério Nogueira fights at Light Heavyweight, so he’s “Little Nog.” That way, MMA fans can keep track of which Nogueira their talking about.
There is also one important thing that almost nobody knows about the Nogueira brothers: They’re both going to win and win decisively this coming Saturday at UFC 140.
Big Nog will be facing Frank Mir, a former UFC heavyweight champion with a ton of momentum. Frank Mir is coming into this fight overconfident and slightly under-prepared. He beat Big Nog a little so easily in their first fight that he just can’t help it: He views Big Nog as an over-rated under-skilled fighter who is way past his prime.
Come fight night, we’re going to see the larger Nogueira brother come in more determined than we’ve ever seen him. He is on the brink of being released from the UFC and fading into irrelevance.
Also consider that coming into their first fight, nobody ever heard of “Frank Mir the knockout artist.” I think that fight is where Mir realized that he actually might be a lot better striker than anyone thought he was. Being the 38th fight to face Big Nog and the first to knock him out is a huge confidence builder.
Big Nog didn’t know that Frank Mir was a one-punch knockout threat back then. Nobody did. This time around, Mir has no new surprises to bring to the table. He knows very well how to nullify power strikers and he will nullify Frank’s stand-up game this time.
At UFC 140 we’re going to see the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu clash of the titans we all thought we were going to see at UFC 92 and Big Nog is going to win that chess match by submitting Frank in the third round.
Little Nog is also on the brink, but he’s got an even bigger reason to put on the best fight of his career this Saturday. Unlike his larger brother, Lil Nog has always been a step or two shy of becoming a world champion but he’s never been able to seal the deal. The saying, “It’s now or never” was never truer than it is now with Lil Nog.
So how will he beat Tito Ortiz? It’s a lot simpler than you might think. Since his recent return to the octagon, Tito has been very consistent at one thing: Being inconsistent. After having his career resurrecting moment against Ryan Bader, he put on another disappointing performance against Rashad Evans.
The trouble is, Tito is already a living legend in the UFC and mixed martial arts. He doesn’t really have anything else to prove at this point. And Rogério has all the skills to equal Tito across the board. At any stage of both fighters’ careers, this would have been a close fight.
A very motivated and hungry Little Nog is going to light Tito up with punches all night and Tito won’t be able to keep the fight on the ground where he is safer. “Nogueira-light” wins this fight by unanimous decision.
There is one thing that I can’t for the life of me sort out: Why on earth is this card booked to happen in Canada?? When you have the most famous pair of brothers in MMA history on the same card, if you have any common sense at all, you put that card where it does the most for your bottom line. So why on earth are these two fights happening in Brazil?
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