Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Former UFC heavyweight champion Antônio Rodrigo ‘Big Nog’ Nogueira (33-7-1, 1NC) is ready to return to action after healing from a broken arm suffered in a loss to Frank Mir last December at UFC 140.
The big Brazilian fighter will reportedly return as part of next months UFC 153 event against the heavy handed Dave ‘Pee Wee’ Herman (21-4).
News of the bout was announced by the Tatame.com.br this afternoon.
Herman spoke to the website about the fight (translated using Google Translate).
“I’m excited to retire the Minotaur. I’ll make a point to be his last fight, “fired the athlete after a practice session at Team Quest in a telephone conversation with our team.
“After my last I had surgery, but now I’m good to fight,” he said, afraid of the possibilities of Minotaur accept the fight. “He does not want to be retired in Brazil, especially against me … That will not be good for him. “
UFC 153 is scheduled to occur on October 13, 2012 at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The card has suffered the loss of main event fighter UFC featherweight title holder Jose Aldo, as well as former light heavyweight champ Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, to injuries which were both announced on Tuesday.
As noted, Nogueira suffered a submission loss to Mir last December, the first of his career, as well as suffering a broken right humerus in the first round. ‘Big Nog’ had signed on to face Cheick Kongo at UFC 149 but had not fully recovered and was replaced by Shawn Jordan. The Brazilian is 2-3 over his last five matches stemming back to December 2008, with two losses to Mir. Nogueira’s last victory came just over a year ago at UFC 134 when he knocked out Brendan Schaub at the Rio event.
Herman has lost his last two bouts and is just 1-2 since joining the UFC. ‘Pee Wee’ took a short notice fight last May at UFC 146, replacing Gabriel Gonzaga against Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson. Herman’s night would end early without landing any significant strike after Nelson dropped him at 51-seconds of the first. The other two Octagon appearances for Herman ended with a second round TKO loss to Stefan Struve at UFC on FUEL TV 1, and a second round TKO win over John-Olav Einemo at UFC 131.