Is this the end of the line for ‘Shogun’ Rua, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, or both?
You’ll have to forgive longtime fans for doing a double take when they saw that former UFC light heavyweight champion [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag] is fighting [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag].
After all, it’s 2020, not 2005.
But here we are, with the Brazilian legends getting set to go at it a third time in the evening’s co-main event. Rua (26-11-1 MMA, 6-6 UFC) won both of the first two battles, one in PRIDE and one in the UFC, but they were both great fights. And that’s plenty of motivation for both men to put together a fight that could surprise with its intensity.
After that … who knows? Nogueira (23-9 MMA, 10-9-1 UFC) says this is it for him, win or lose, although we all know how the retirement thing goes in MMA. “Shogun,” for his part, turns 39 in November. He’s only won once in the past 40 months. If he can’t pull it off against the 44-year-old “Lil’ Nog,” then he’s due for a think about his future, as well.
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