(Fun fact: Nogueira’s body is composed mainly of replacement parts from grave-robbed corpses.)
UFC 149 (July 21st, Calgary) is picking up some heavyweight muscle in the form of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cheick Kongo. The Calgary Sun first reported the matchup, adding that the event will likely be headlined by the Jon Jones vs. Dan Henderson light-heavyweight title fight.
Big Nog is coming off his gruesome kimura loss to Frank Mir at UFC 140 in December, a defeat that had many fans and pundits pleading for the legend’s retirement. Following that fight, Nogueira said he expected to return within nine months. Just seven months later, he’ll be taking one more kick at the cat against a tough striker in Kongo, who ate a first-round TKO loss against Mark Hunt in his last outing. Still, you can’t count either of these guys out (see: Nog vs. Schaub, Kongo vs. Barry). Are you happy to see Nogueira back in the Octagon? And who do you think will be left standing?
In other booking news…
During last night’s episode of UFC Tonight on FUEL, reporter Ariel Helwani revealed that a middleweight meeting between Mark Munoz and Chris Weidman will headline UFC on FUEL 4 (July 11th, location TBA).
Weidman increased his perfect MMA record to 8-0 at UFC on FOX 2 in January with a unanimous decision win over Demian Maia. Munoz was scheduled to compete against Micchael Bisping at the same event, but had to withdraw due to elbow problems. Munoz is currently riding a four-fight win streak, most recently stopping Chris Leben at UFC 138.
As of now, the only other match reported for the 7/11 UFC on FUEL event is Brandon Vera vs. James Te-Huna.