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Chael Sonnen Out? Five UFC Retirements That Could (or Should) Happen in 2013

I’ve never been one to wish the end of a fighting career on anyone (there are plenty of shady promotions and freak injuries out there to do that for me), but as we approach our last few UFC cards of the year, you can’t help but wonder who’s in and who’…

The following predictions are mostly speculation mixed with a little bit of hope (in a certain case, anyway) and absolutely no basis in fact.

For all we know, Tim Sylvia could be back after surviving the head kick from hell thanks to Arlovski, and Anderson Silva could retire his belt and pursue a lifelong passion for cheesemaking. Total. Speculation.

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UFC: Chael Sonnen "Tramautized by Brazilians’ Ground Game"

UFC middleweight number one contender Chael Sonnen doesn’t have a lot of friends in arch nemesis Anderson Silva’s Black House MMA camp, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is no exception.”[Vinny Magalhaes] is a very good Jiu-Jitsu guy and has got to improve …

UFC middleweight number one contender Chael Sonnen doesn’t have a lot of friends in arch nemesis Anderson Silva‘s Black House MMA camp, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is no exception.

“[Vinny Magalhaes] is a very good Jiu-Jitsu guy and has got to improve [Sonnen’s] triangles. He was submitted by Demian, Sobral, Paulo, Anderson, Jeremy Horn… I guess he says bad things about Jiu-Jitsu and Brazil because of that: he’s traumatized by Brazilians’ ground game,” Nogueira said in an interview with TATAME.

Magalhaes, a world-renowned BJJ champion before entering MMA, announced back in April that he would be heading to Sonnen’s home state of Oregon to improve the America’s Jiu-Jitsu game.

“Minotauro” also refers to several submission losses in Sonnen’s career, including Demian Maia, Renato Sobral, Paulo Filho, Anderson Silva and Jeremy Horn.

In their meeting at UFC 117, Sonnen controlled Silva, the reigning UFC middleweight champion, for roughly 23 minutes before succumbing to a triangle choke.

In 11 career losses, Sonnen has been submitted eight times.

“Big Nog” actually admits that he thinks “Uncle Chael” has legitimate skills on the ground, but he still does not appreciate the former collegiate All-American wrestler’s attitude.

“He’s good on the ground, knows [how] to defend himself and Jiu-Jitsu. He trains with Brazilians. How did he learn that? Were he born with natural Jiu-Jitsu skills? He says bad things about Brazil and Jiu-Jitsu but trains it”, Nogueira said on the same interview.

Nogueira, who gave Anderson Silva his black belt in BJJ, made it clear in the same interview that he is fed up with Sonnen’s personal attacks against Brazil and Silva.

“He’s a guy who says bad things about countries, the athlete, Anderson’s wife, the way he dresses… He gets into things that doesn’t matter”, he said.

The former PRIDE star also said that if Silva makes good on his promise to knock out all of Sonnen’s teeth on Saturday, he would like to take one home as a souvenir.

Nogueira was scheduled to face Cheick Kongo at UFC 149 later this month, but remains on the shelf following a brutal broken arm at the hands of Frank Mir at UFC 140.

Sonnen and Silva have their long-awaited rematch at UFC 148 this Saturday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 149: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s Doctor Explains Why He Won’t Fight

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was one of many to pull out of UFC 149.UFC 149 was to be Nogueira’s return to the cage after Frank Mir snapped in half the upper bone in his right arm because Nogueira refused to tap. It was that very injury that caused him to …

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was one of many to pull out of UFC 149.

UFC 149 was to be Nogueira’s return to the cage after Frank Mir snapped in half the upper bone in his right arm because Nogueira refused to tap. It was that very injury that caused him to pull out of UFC 149, according to Nogueira.

“I was sad because my fight was called off. Unfortunately I felt my arm in the latest trainings specifics for MMA. I can’t fight with pain and don’t have a good performance,” Nogueira wrote on Twitter.

Nogueira underwent surgery after the Mir fight to fix the injury, and it seems as though he came back a little too soon to training.

Of course, the injury is a little more complex than it seems, so here is a quote from Nogueira’s physiotherapist, Angela Cortes, to explain the injury:

“The objectives that were set to reach the prime of the preparation in the period of training had been obtained,” she says.

“But during the intense sessions of sparring Rodrigo related discomfort followed by pain in the arm that went under surgery, caused by takedowns and impact from punches on the region where the screws are placed.”

Nogueira was expected to face Cheick Kongo at UFC 149, which takes place in Calgary on July 21. He is 2-3 in his last five fights, which includes two losses to Mir and a loss to Cain Velasquez. Nogueira’s only two wins came against Brendan Schaub last August and over Randy Couture in August of 2009.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 149: UFC.com Announces Big Nog’s Replacement

Yesterday, we learned that former heavyweight champion of both PRIDE and UFC, Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira, has been forced from his UFC 149 battle against Cheick Kongo.Today, UFC.com has announced that Big Nog will be replaced by none other than Shawn…

Yesterday, we learned that former heavyweight champion of both PRIDE and UFC, Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira, has been forced from his UFC 149 battle against Cheick Kongo.

Today, UFC.com has announced that Big Nog will be replaced by none other than Shawn Jordan.

Jordan is a former Strikeforce competitor who put on an exciting battle against strongman Oli Thompson at UFC on FX back in March. The contest saw Jordan win via TKO after two rounds of back and forth action.

The American fights out of Greg Jackson’s camp and compiled a 3-1 record in Bellator, before going 1-1 in Strikeforce, where he holds a submission win over Lavar Johnson.

Despite his 13-3 record, this fight represents a major step up in competition for Jordan, as Cheick Kongo is a mainstay of the UFC Heavyweight division and holds wins over the likes of Mirko Cro Cop and Assuerio Silva. To date, Kongo is the only man to go the distance with former champion Cain Velasquez.

This fight is the first for Kongo since a TKO loss to Mark Hunt back at UFC 144 in Japan. After stating on multiple occasions that he is hoping to get the title shot that he eluded him throughout his 17-fight UFC career, 37-year-old Kongo will need to be successful against the rising prospect if he has any realistic hopes of getting his shot.

UFC 149 takes place on July 21, 2012 and will be headlined by the Interim Bantamweight title fight between Urijah Faber and Renan Barao.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

UFC 149: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira Forced from July 21 Fight Card

The ever-growing list of the UFC walking wounded increased by one on Saturday when it was announced that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had been forced from the UFC 149 main card. Nogueira last fought at UFC 140, losing to Frank Mir via a particularly nasty …

The ever-growing list of the UFC walking wounded increased by one on Saturday when it was announced that Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had been forced from the UFC 149 main card.

Nogueira last fought at UFC 140, losing to Frank Mir via a particularly nasty kimura that left Nogueira’s arm broken and requiring surgery. According to Sherdog.com, Nogueira has yet to fully recover from that surgery and was forced to withdraw from the July 21 card.

Nogueira had been scheduled to face Cheick Kongo on the card at the Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. Kongo (17-7-2) has already had a replacement opponent named, the 13-3 Shawn Jordan.

Kongo is coming off a loss in his last fight, a first round TKO at the hands of Mark Hunt. The loss to Hunt broke a four fight unbeaten streak for Kongo. Jordan made his debut with the UFC in March of this year, defeating Oli Thompson via second round TKO. The Kongo versus Jordan bout will take place on the main pay-per-view card.

UFC 149 has been one of the more cursed fight cards in recent memory as none of the four fights that currently make up the main card where originally booked for the event.

The card was originally set to feature a featherweight title bout between Jose Aldo and Erik Koch, but an injury to Aldo caused that fight to be postponed.

The co-main event between Hector Lombard and Tim Boetsch was originally a bout between Boetsch and Michael Bisping, but Bisping was forced from the card due to injury.

The fourth main card bout was originally supposed to be a fight between Yoshihiro Akiyama and Thiago Alves, but Akiyama was injured and replaced by Siyar Bahadurzada. Alves was then forced from the card and replaced by Chris Clements.

Judging by all the changes to the main card and the fact that we are still more than a month away from this event taking place, I wouldn’t place any wagers that the card as currently scheduled is the one that fans will be watching on July 21.

Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com

Shane Carwin: Six Possible Fights for His Return

It’s been a year since we’ve seen former UFC interim heavyweight champion Shane Carwin in the Octagon, due to a severe back injury. But now he’s announced his long-awaited return, telling UFC matchmaker Joe Silva that he’d like …

It’s been a long road to recovery for a fighter who posted a 12-0 run, which included victories over top heavyweights Gabriel Gonzaga and former UFC champion Frank Mir. But back-to-back losses to Brock Lesnar and Junior dos Santos left him looking for his place in the division.

With his return imminent, Carwin says he spent his time off rounding out his skills and making himself an even better fighter, ready to take on the elite of the division once again. Here’s a look at possible fights for his return.

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