Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is happy to end his career with a trilogy bout against rival Mauricio Rua at UFC on ESPN 14.
ABU DHABI – [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] believes Saturday will mark his final professional MMA fight. He said he’s happy to close it out against a familiar foe.
The Brazilian legend Nogueira (23-9 MMA, 6-6 UFC), who has been competing since his August 2001 debut, will have a trilogy fight with longtime rival Mauricio Rua (26-11-1 MMA, 10-9-1 UFC) in the UFC on ESPN 14 co-main event, which takes place at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. Nothing is guaranteed, Nogueira said, but he said every feeling he has points to his being his retirement bout.
“My plan is to make a good fight, step-by-step,” Nogueira told reporters, including MMA Junkie, on Tuesday at UFC on ESPN 14 media day. “But I think it’s a good time to step now. I think it’s going to be the last one.”
Nogueira said retirement has been on his mind for some time. He was originally scheduled to fight Rua in March in Brazil, and a send-off in his home country would’ve been ideal. Injuries and the coronavirus pandemic prevented that from happening, and now it unfolds on “Fight Island.”
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Nogueira brothers, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, has been retired for several years and is now a UFC Hall of Famer. “Lil’ Nog” has opted to push on longer, but at 44, he said he thinks he pulled about every ounce of time out of the sport as he possible could.
“(I have) a lot of kids – a lot of work to do outside the cage,” Nogueira said. “In my last three years it was very difficult to train because I had herniated disc. I had to cancel a lot of fights. Every year I fought one time then the second one I would have to cancel. It was difficult for me my last three years.”
Although Nogueira admits the conditions of fighting with no crowd in an empty arena isn’t how he envisioned retirement, he couldn’t have picked a better opponent. His rivalry with “Shogun” goes back more than 15 years, with the pair first putting on the 2005 “Fight of the Year” under the now-defunct PRIDE banner. Rua won that bout by decision, then took the rematch at UFC 190 in August 2005, as well.
Nogueira thinks he had a good case for winning both fights, so going out by finally getting a win over Rua would be an ideal scenario
“It’s a very special moment for me. I’m going to fight with Mauricio for the third time. We made one of the best fights in PRIDE where everybody talk about this fight. We’re going to try to do our best to make a good impression like we did before in 2005. I thought in 2015 we made a very good fight, too. I think we have a good chance now to steal the show.”
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 14 event in Abu Dhabi.
We want your predictions for Saturday’s UFC on ESPN 14 event in Abu Dhabi.
Our staff picks feature includes the consensus picks from MMA Junkie readers. Simply cast your vote for each bout below, and we’ll use the official tallies that are registered by Thursday at noon ET (9 a.m. PT).
Those MMA Junkie reader consensus picks will be part of the UFC on ESPN 14 event staff predictions we release Friday ahead of the event. UFC on ESPN 14 takes place Saturday at Flash Forum at Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The card airs on ESPN and streams on ESPN+.
Make your picks for all six main card fights inside:
Check out the official poster for the final “Fight Island” event.
The final UFC card happening on “Fight Island” now has an official poster to go with it.
Friday, the UFC released the poster for the July 25 event going down on Yas Island in Abu Dhabi. The poster features the headlining act, which has former UFC middleweight champion [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] facing off against contender [autotag]Darren Till[/autotag].
The poster also features two more featured bouts – the co-main event, where [autotag]Fabricio Werdum[/autotag] welcomes [autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag] to the heavyweight division, and a trilogy bout pitting Brazilian legends [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag] and [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag].
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Below you can see the official look of the final ‘Fight Island’ event:
The Blue Corner is MMA Junkie’s blog space. We don’t take it overly serious, and neither should you. If you come complaining to us that something you read here is not hard-hitting news, expect to have the previous sentence repeated in ALL CAPS.
“Fight Island” is real, and now the four cards that will take place there are real, as well.
“Fight Island” is real, and now the four cards that will take place there are real, as well.
UFC president Dana White today announced the complete lineup for the four cards that will take place next month in Yas Island, Abu Dhabi. The unique setup has been necessitated by the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic, which has made it difficult to get international fighters into the U.S. to compete.
“I think this is going to be a really unique experience, not just for the fighters, but for us,” UFC president Dana White said during the announcement. “It’s going to be cool. It’s going to be something different. It’s never been done before, and however long this thing goes on, and however long it’s hard to get people in from other countries, we will have these fights at ‘Fight Island’ – Yas Island, Abu Dhabi.”
First up, it’s UFC 251 on July 11, which features a trio of title fights.
MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view, 10 p.m. ET)
Champ [autotag]Kamaru Usman[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Gilbert Burns[/autotag] – for welterweight title
Champ [autotag]Alexander Volkanovski[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Max Holloway[/autotag] – for featherweight title
[autotag]Petr Yan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] – for vacant bantamweight title
[autotag]Jessica Andrade[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rose Namajunas[/autotag]
[autotag]Amanda Ribas[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Paige VanZant[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 8 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Volkan Oezdemir[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jiri Prochazka[/autotag]
[autotag]Muslim Salikhov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Elizeu Zaleski dos Santos[/autotag]
[autotag]Makwan Amirkhani[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Danny Henry[/autotag]
[autotag]Roman Bogatov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Leonardo Santos[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD (ESPN, ESPN+, 6:15 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Alexander Romanov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marcin Tybura[/autotag]
[autotag]Raulian Paiva[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Zhalgas Zhumagulov[/autotag]
[autotag]Vanessa Melo[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Karol Rosa[/autotag]
[autotag]Martin Day[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Davey Grant[/autotag]
Calvin Kattar and Dan Ige
The promotion then returns on July 15 with an event headlined by featherweight contenders [autotag]Calvin Kattar[/autotag] (21-4 MMA, 5-2 UFC) and [autotag]Dan Ige[/autotag] (14-2 MMA, 6-1 UFC).
The complete lineup includes:
MAIN CARD (10 p.m. ET)
Calvin Kattar vs. Dan Ige
[autotag]Frankie Edgar[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pedro Munhoz[/autotag]
[autotag]Carla Esparza[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Marina Rodriguez[/autotag]
[autotag]Abdul Razak Alhassan[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mounir Lazzez[/autotag]
[autotag]Chris Fishgold[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jared Gordon[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY (7 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Modestas Bukauskas[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Vinicius Moreira[/autotag]
[autotag]Molly McCann[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Taila Santos[/autotag]
[autotag]Lerone Murphy[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ricardo Ramos[/autotag]
[autotag]John Phillips[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Dusko Todorovic[/autotag]
[autotag]Ryan Benoit[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tim Elliott[/autotag]
[autotag]Diana Belbita[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Liana Jojua[/autotag]
Joseph Benavidez and Deiveson Figueiredo
Three days later, on July 18, the promotion hosts its third card in eight days, when top flyweight contenders [autotag]Deiveson Figueiredo[/autotag] (18-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) and [autotag]Joseph Benavidez[/autotag] (28-6 MMA, 15-4 UFC) meet for a second time with the vacant UFC flyweight title on the line.
The full card includes:
MAIN CARD (9 p.m. ET)
Deiveson Figueiredo vs. Joseph Benavidez – for vacant flyweight title
[autotag]Kelvin Gastelum[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jack Hermansson[/autotag]
[autotag]Marc Diakiese[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Rafael Fiziev[/autotag]
[autotag]Luana Carolina[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Ariane Lipski[/autotag]
[autotag]Askar Askarov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Alexandre Pantoja[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD (6 p.m. ET)
[autotag]Roman Dolidze[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Khadis Ibragimov[/autotag]
[autotag]Grant Dawson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nad Narimani[/autotag]
[autotag]Joel Alvarez[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Joe Duffy[/autotag]
[autotag]Montel Jackson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Brett Johns[/autotag]
[autotag]Aleksander Doskalchuk[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Tagir Ulanbekov[/autotag]
[autotag]Davi Ramos[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Arman Tsarukyan[/autotag]
[autotag]Carlos Felipe[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Serghei Spivac[/autotag]
Darren Till and Robert Whittaker
Finally, the UFC’s run in Abu Dhabi ends on July 25 with a much-anticipated middleweight contest between former champion [autotag]Robert Whittaker[/autotag] (20-5 MMA, 11-3 UFC) and former welterweight title challenger [autotag]Darren Till[/autotag] (18-2-1 MMA, 6-2-1 UFC).
That night’s full lineup includes:
MAIN CARD
Robert Whittaker vs. Darren Till
[autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag]
[autotag]Alex Oliveira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Peter Sobotta[/autotag]
[autotag]Alexander Gustafsson[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Fabricio Werdum[/autotag]
[autotag]Nicolas Dalby[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Danny Roberts[/autotag]
PRELIMINARY CARD
[autotag]Tom Aspinall[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Jake Collier[/autotag]
[autotag]Raphael Pessoa[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Justin Tafa[/autotag]
[autotag]Movsar Evloev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mike Grundy[/autotag]
[autotag]Bethe Correia[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Pannie Kianzad[/autotag]
[autotag]Umar Nurmagomedov[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Nathaniel Wood[/autotag]
[autotag]Ramazan Emeev[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Shavkat Rakhmonov[/autotag]
According to UFC president Dana White, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Mauricio Rua 3 is back on tap.
[autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] vs. [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag] 3 is back on.
Originally scheduled to take place May 9 in Sao Paulo, Brazil, the event was canceled due to the ongoing coronavirus outbreak. The fight will now take place July 25, according to UFC president Dana White.
In a recent interview with “Jackass” star Steve-O, White revealed the promotion’s plan to rebook Nogueira (23-9 MMA, 6-6 UFC) vs. Rua (26-11-1 MMA, 10-9-1 UFC) on the same card expected to be headlined by middleweights Darren Till and Robert Whittaker. The event is expected to take place on “Fight Island.”
Rua returns to the cage for the first time since a November draw against Paul Craig. Prior to that, “Shogun” won four of five outings. His only loss in that stretch came to future UFC title challenger Anthony Smith.
Nogueira, a 43-year-old light heavyweight, has lost four of six fights. His most recent outing came at UFC 237 last May, when he was knocked out by Ryan Spann. “Lil Nog” was scheduled to compete against Trevor Smith in November in what was pegged to be his final MMA fight. However, Nogueira withdrew because of an injury.
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July 25 will mark the trilogy fight between the two Brazilian MMA legends. Their first meeting came at “PRIDE: Critical Countdown” in 2005. In the PRIDE middleweight grand prix quarterfinal, Rua swept the judges scorecards to win a unanimous decision. The rematch occurred a decade later at UFC 190 in August 2015. Once again, it was Rua winning by unanimous decision.
The UFC 250 fight card has all but fallen apart because of circumstances surrounding the global coronavirus pandemic.
The UFC 250 fight card has all but fallen apart.
With U.S. consulates closed throughout Brazil, seven Brazilian fighters – including headliner [autotag]Jose Aldo[/autotag] – won’t be permitted to compete at the May 9 event because they can’t apply for a U.S. work visa. A person familiar with the matter confirmed the news Wednesday to MMA Junkie after an initial report from MMA Fighting.
UFC 250 originally was scheduled to take place in Sao Paulo, Brazil, but is among two months worth of events that UFC president Dana White plans on holding at a secret U.S. location during the coronavirus pandemic. The location, which will start hosting events April 18 with UFC 249, is on tribal land at Tachi Palace Casino Resort in Lemoore, Calif., according to reports, and is therefore exempt from a statewide stay-at-home order.
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Former featherweight champion Aldo was scheduled to challenge Henry Cejudo for the bantamweight title, but that fight is no more. Combate reported Wednesday night that former 135-pound champ Dominick Cruz, who hasn’t competed since December 2016, will step in to face Cejudo. Cruz seemingly confirmed that on social media, although no official announcement has been made.
In addition to Aldo, the other Brazilian fighters now ruled out of UFC 250 are [autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag], [autotag]Ketlen Vieira[/autotag], [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag], [autotag]Bethe Correia[/autotag], [autotag]Augusto Sakai[/autotag], and [autotag]Carlos Felipe[/autotag]. Rua and Nogueira were set to square off.
Two Brazilian fighters unaffected are women’s bantamweight champion Amanda Nunes and Fabricio Werdum, who both live and train in the U.S.
It’s unknown if the opponents opposite the removed Brazilian fighters will remain on the card.
The latest UFC 250 lineup now includes:
Champion Henry Cejudo vs. TBA – for bantamweight title
Champion Amanda Nunes vs. Felicia Spencer – for women’s bantamweight title
It’s the rubber match going down at UFC 250 in Sao Paulo.
They’ve done it twice before, and they’ll be doing it once again.
[autotag]Mauricio Rua[/autotag] and [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag] are booked to square off for the third time at UFC 250. The news was reported Thursday by UFC broadcast partner ESPN, which cited UFC president Dana White.
UFC 250 is scheduled for May 9 at Ginásio do Ibirapuera in Sao Paulo, Brazil, and will stream on ESPN+ pay-per-view following prelims likely on ESPN and ESPN+/UFC Fight Pass.
Rua (26-11-1 MMA, 10-9-1 UFC) returns to the cage for the first time since a November draw against Paul Craig. Prior to that, “Shogun” won four of five outings. His only loss in that stretch came to future UFC title challenger Anthony Smith.
As for Nogueira (23-9 MMA, 6-6 UFC), the 43-year-old light heavyweight has lost four of six fights. His most recent outing came at UFC 237 last May, when he was knocked out by Ryan Spann. “Lil Nog” was scheduled to compete against Trevor Smith in November in what was pegged to be his final MMA fight. However, Nogueira withdrew because of an injury.
May 9 will mark the trilogy fight between the two Brazilian MMA legends. Their first meeting came at “PRIDE Critical Countdown” in 2005. In the PRIDE middleweight grand prix quarterfinal, Nogueira swept the judges scorecards to win a unanimous decision. The rematch occurred a decade later at UFC 190 in August 2015. This time, it was Rua winning by unanimous decision.
With the addition, the current UFC 250 lineup includes:
Rich Franklin says Michael Bisping and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira are two fighters he would have liked to face during his UFC career.
UFC Hall of Famer and former middleweight champion [autotag]Rich Franklin[/autotag] has fought a who’s-who in MMA.
But despite being satisfied with his star-studded resume, Franklin (29-7 MMA, 13-7 UFC) said if there were two fighters he could have competed against, it would be fellow former UFC 185-pound champ [autotag]Michael Bisping[/autotag] and [autotag]Antonio Rogerio Nogueira[/autotag].
Franklin, who now works as an executive with ONE Championship, was scheduled to fight at UFC 133 in 2011, but Nogueira was forced off the card due to injury and the fight was scrapped.
“There’s some fun people – there’s some people that would have been a fun matchup, for sure,” Franklin told MMA Junkie. “I think Bisping and I would put on a really entertaining match. There was talk about that for some time. I was, at one point in time, matched up with Nogueira and he got injured. I think that would have been a fun fight to watch, as well.”
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But few have accumulated the fight resume of Franklin, who’s been in there with the likes former UFC middleweight king Anderson Silva, former UFC light heavyweight champ Chuck Liddell, Wanderlei Silva, Vitor Belfort and an array of other legends and champions.
“When you look at my career, from the moment I stepped into the big stage there in the UFC, my first match in the UFC was Evan Tanner,” Franklin said. “He was 8-1 at the time and his only loss was to Tito Ortiz. So from the moment I stepped into the big league, I was really swimming with the sharks.”
Franklin was inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame this past July. Throughout his UFC career, only two of his fights weren’t part of pay-per-view events.
“After I won the title, from that moment on, this sport in particular, you don’t get any tomato cans,” Franklin said. “Everybody that you’re matched up against in mixed martial arts is the No. 1 contender every single time. And even after I lost my title, I still maintained main event status all the way till the end of my career. I was always fighting either top-five guys or former champions from the UFC or some other organization. My entire career was swimming with the sharks.”
