Battle of the Brazilians highlights the UFC on Fuel TV 10 main card.
It will be a case of the last throw of the dice for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira as he prepares to face Fabricio Werdum in the main event fight for UFC on Fuel TV 10.
Despite being 37-years-old, ‘Minotauro’ is still one of the best in the world in the heavyweight division and brings with him experience from 43 professional fights.
Despite rumors swirling around ‘Big Nog’ walking away from the mixed martial arts game for the past two years, he says he’s not going anywhere and he wants his name to be mentioned in the same sentence as current heavyweight title holder, Cain Velasquez.
“You guys (media) always want to put me out of the game, but I’m hungry,” Nogueira said.
Nogueira (34-7-1 MMA, 5-3 UFC) and Werdum (16-5-1 MMA, 4-2 UFC) have met fought before, when they locked horns under the PRIDE banner, with the older Nogueira getting the decision victory back in 2006.
Despite that previous success over his opponent, the former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion knows his fellow countryman has only gotten better in the last seven years.
“Fabricio Werdum is totally different from the last fight,” Minotauro said.
“He improved a lot. We grappled in our first fight, and I felt his strength. That doesn’t change. But I think before he was more like a jiu-jitsu guy. Now he’s a complete fighter. It’s going to be a new fight.”
Werdum carries a two fight winning streaking going into the fight, with his last loss at the hands of Alistair Overeem via unanimous decisions which he was still on the Strikeforce roster.
Since coming to the UFC he has racked up wins over Roy Nelson on points and Mike Russow via a second round stoppage.
In the night’s co-feature, welterweight Leonardo Santos (11-3 MMA, 0-0 UFC) meets undefeated 21-year-old William Macario (6-0 MMA, 0-0 UFC) in the final bout of The Ultimate Fighter: Brazil 2 tournament.
Like the long-running U.S. version of the reality-show/competition series, the tournament winner is awarded a six-figure UFC contract.
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