Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira are both legends of the sport and will each look to prove that they still have gas left in the tank.Both fighters are coming off of losses, but both are still very competitive fighters with some significance in t…
Tito Ortiz and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira are both legends of the sport and will each look to prove that they still have gas left in the tank.
Both fighters are coming off of losses, but both are still very competitive fighters with some significance in their division.
Tito Ortiz recently secured a submission victory over Ryan Bader after hurting him.
Little Nog has lost his last two bouts, but he was competitive in each of them and showed remarkable takedown defense in his most recent fight against Phil Davis, the most credentialed wrestler at 205.
This is a fight that could have happened years ago, when both fighters were two of the world’s top-five light heavyweights. But even with the delay, this promises to be a competitive and exciting bout worth watching.
At UFC 92, Frank Mir shocked the world by dominating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and becoming the first man to stop him with strikes. He has since secured a submission victory over Kongo, a knockout over Mirko Cro Cop and a dominant decision over Ro…
At UFC 92, Frank Mir shocked the world by dominating Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and becoming the first man to stop him with strikes. He has since secured a submission victory over Kongo, a knockout over Mirko Cro Cop and a dominant decision over Roy Nelson.
Three years later, after numerous surgeries and rehabilitation, Nogueira pushed himself back into the heavyweight picture with an impressive first-round knockout of Brendan Schaub, earning himself a rematch with the first fighter to finish him.
Nogueira will be looking to prove to the world that defeating Schaub was a sign of things to come, and that, when healthy, he can beat any heavyweight on the planet.
Mir will be looking to prove that he was, and still is, a better fighter than Nogueira, and will look to make a statement.
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 highl…
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?
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones may go down as the year’s best fighter, but he will have one more test before the year’s end coming in the form of former champion Lyoto Machida. They will meet at UFC 140 on Saturday at the Air Canada…
UFC light heavyweight champion Jon Jones may go down as the year’s best fighter, but he will have one more test before the year’s end coming in the form of former champion Lyoto Machida. They will meet at UFC 140 on Saturday at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto.
Jones’ victories include those over Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, Quinton Jackson and Ryan Bader. Machida enters the fight having only won one of his last three bouts, but that win came over Hall-of-Famer Randy Couture in spectacular fashion.
In the co-main event, former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will take on former Pride heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the second time. Mir defeated Nogueira at UFC 92.
These are my predictions for submission, knockout and fight of the night.
Submission of the Night: Jung Chan-Sung
There is only one way to top off winning Submission of the Year, and Jung Chan-Sung (11-3) will look to get another highlight-reel finish when he faces former title challenger Mark Hominick (20-9) in an anticipated featherweight bout on the main card.
Jung was last seen submitting Leonard Garcia with the first-ever twister submission in the UFC. It won him the Submission of the Year award at the 2011 MMA awards.
If Hominick’s last fight was of any indication, it’s not worth it to stand and try to knock him out. His heart will constantly keep him in the fight no matter how much punishment he takes over the course of the fight. He also has superior stand-up skills to Jung.
Look for Jung to take this fight to the mat after some early exchanges and try to work for a submission. Hominick hasn’t always had the best submission defense, and five of his nine losses have come in that fashion.
This fight easily has the makings to win one of the three bonuses.
Knockout of the Night: John Makdessi
John Makdessi (9-0) is one of the UFC’s most exciting and promising prospects, and he will get the chance to prove it when he faces MMA veteran Dennis Hallman (50-14-2) on the preliminary card of UFC 140.
Makdessi was last seen knocking out Kyle Watson with a spinning back-fist in front of 55,000 hometown fans at UFC 129. He will get the chance to do that once again in front of a smaller crowd, but a hometown crowd nonetheless.
Hallman will be dropping from welterweight to lightweight so it will be interesting to see how the weight cut affects his cardio late in the fight if it goes there.
Makdessi is a relatively undersized opponent, but knows what it means to entertain the crowd. His stand-up technique and kickboxing features a wide array of kicks, and one of them could be the last thing Hallman sees before getting knocked out late in this fight.
Fight of the Night: Jared Hamman vs. Constantinos Philippou
In a preliminary bout set to air on Ion Television, middleweights Jared Hamman (13-3) and Constantinos Philippou (8-2) will look to take a step up in the division and earn another UFC victory.
After a somewhat disappointing win over Jorge Rivera at UFC 133, Philippou should be motivated to put on a show against Hamman, who has won two previous Fight of the Night bonuses and is coming off a very exciting fight versus C.B. Dollaway. Philippou is 1-1 in the UFC with his only loss coming against Nick Catone.
Hamman made his middleweight debut against Dollaway and survived early barrages to come back and stop “The Doberman” in the second round. His toughness is one of his biggest assets, and it is easily making him one of the fan-favorite fighters in the division.
Frank Mir has been on the rebound ever since he lost to Brock Lesnar at UFC 100. Mir had a chance to get back into the mix when he took on Shane Carwin at UFC 111. Once again for Mir it would not be his night, as he lost to Carwin by KO. …
Mir was not only the first man to beat Nogueira in the UFC, he was the first man to defeat him by TKO. If Mir can repeat his performance, he could very well be on his way to title contention once again.
Mir is still one of the most well known fighters in the heavyweight division. That, as well as the heavyweight division being top heavy, are reasons why Mir is always a couple of wins away from a title shot.
Mir will have to get an impressive win over another top heavyweight, though.
Dana White has shown in the past that he does not reward just anybody with a title shot.
No matter how good Mir’s record is, if he doesn’t win fights in impressive fashion, he will be just another fighter with wins against mediocre opponents.
Mir will have to show that he can still pull off the big wins and hold his own with other top contenders.
At UFC 140, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will meet Frank Mir in a rematch that could push one of them into title contention.Nogueira is one of the true legends of MMA. The former Pride heavyweight and UFC interim heavyweight champ has been t…
The Nogueira brothers,