Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira To Face Winner of Brock Lesnar vs. Shane Carwin
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, back on track after his August victory over Randy Couture, will challenge the winner of the November 21 Brock Lesnar-Shane Carwin fight for the heavyweight title, according to Inside Fights, which confirmed a Wrestling Observer report.
Nogueira (32-5-1), a former PRIDE champion and recent interim UFC title-holder,was dominated by Frank Mir in their December meeting, but “Minotauro” bounced back strong with an impressive performance against Couture, winning by unanimous decision in the “Fight of the Night” at UFC 102.
Lesnar (4-1), the UFC’s current heavyweight champion, won the title with a victory over Randy Couture last November, then defended the belt against Frank Mir at UFC 100 in July. Carwin (11-0) earned his title shot with three-straight wins inside the Octagon, including a 69-second knockout of Gabriel Gonzaga in March.
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This is interesting. If lesnar wins he’ll probably use the same gameplan he used to beat mir. I haven’t seen enough of carwin except that he can take a punch and can put you to sleep with one of his own so I’m not sure how a fight with nog would go.
he would get beat up by either i think. Nog’s boxing really isn’t that good. he got tagged a couple of times in the Randy fight.. If he gets tagged by Brock or Shane. Good Night..
yeah i don’t know how well nog will do against these younger bigger guys. Nog’s more skilled and technical but in the hw division, brock has proven that size can overcome technique and skill.
Carwin is older than Big Nog, and Brock is only a year younger.
Probably shouldn’t have said younger. But Carwin is “fresher” and less “seasoned” then nog and so is brock. Same age or not, they are stronger and less damaged than he is. Wanderlei is a great example he’s what 33? but appears to be 40 or so. Same goes for big nog.
I agree that they look older, and I can go with “fresher” because both Nog and Wandy show the wear from their career.
yeah not so much age or just physical appearence. It’s like a new car, your drive it drive it and drive it, and although it’s newer than an older model or older car, that older or just as new car’s engine probably runs better since it’s been driven less and taken less damage.
Wow, i had to look on sherdog cuz i couldnt believe it! nog looks about 50 and carwin like late 20s
yeah i know what your saying. Nog’s got alot of miles in his tank. and think of all those training hours and everything like that, his body is just looks like its worn out all the time.
I’m just saying Nog has good BJJ but against legit 265 pound guys who seem to be fresher than him I dont know.
he’s gotta improve his boxing defense first though. he always freakin drops his left hand after he jabs!!!!!! i cant stand it.
Oh my! This is what I wanted to read! I know Nog won’t have much of a chance against Lesnar if Lesnar gets him down and just puts his weight on him, but I can still hope of a crazy Nog-tastic submission. If Shane wins then I think Nogs chances will go up. But that’s just my thoughts. Great news though!
I don’t know about everyone else but i don’t think Nogueira deserves a title shot with just one win over and old Randy Couture. He should fight the winner of Velasques-Rothwell or fight either Cheick Kongo or rematch Frank Mir, but a title shot already? This is dumb, lately the UFC is not making guys earn title shots but is just handing them out like it’s nothing,first Carwin gets Lesnar,Vitor gets Anderson,Swick/Hardy will get GSO…all of these are un-earned and undeserving shots for championships and are really taking away the credibility of each Title IMO. And Rampage who really should have won the Forrest fight didn’t even get his title shot when he clearly deserved one. Bad move for the credibilty of not only the Heavyweight Title but how casula fans will view title fights(I know Lesnar only beat Herring then got a shot at the title before anyone brings that up)…
As far as Nogueira fighting either Brock or Carwin, i honestly feel that Nogueira always has his subs as a last resort to score a lucky win but i’m sorry, if Nogueira couldn’t finish a 46 year old Randy Couture who looked more like a 205-er in their fight than he will for sure not be able to finish carwin let alone Brock Lesnar who will most likely do Nogueira worse than Mir. Carwin will for sure knock Nogueira the-F out and Brock will problably put Nogueira in the hospital. Randy Couture who is way smaller than both Carwin and Lesnar gave Nogueira a challenge, Lesnar would throw him down to the ground and beat him up bad and Carwin will most likely “Gonzaga” Nogueira, either way i don’t see Nogueira winning the UFC Heavyweight Title, yes i know he has awesome BJJ and can take punishment but i honestly don’t feel that he’ll be able to take Carwins punches not Lesnar’s brutal gNp.
Nogueira should have fought Cheick Kongo or Frank Mir for his next fight because a win over Couture even though he is “Couture” doesn’t justify a title shot but hey, that’s the UFC and that is the road they are heading in, i guess the legitimacy of the sport comes second place to business.
in all fairness mk4 the randy-nog fight shouldve been stopped twice imo. randy was on the floor not defending himself while nog was landing hammerfists, and the fight wasnt stopped.
how has he not deserved a title shot? his only loss recently was to mir and he looked crappy because he was coming off of a staph infection and the flu/pneumonia. he stated after the randy fight he wants a rematch with mir.
i dont see how rothwell or cain deserve a title shot, even if that winner beats nog for a title shot, i dont see how either one is ready. cain should drop to 205 he is a small heavyweight imo.
I think undeserved title shots will always be an issue in the modern ufc, but, as a fan, I am more concerned about seeing good match-ups. And this, I believe, is a good match-up.
I see what you are saying about Nog possibly being hospitalized, but you could say that about anyone that steps in the ring with Lesnar. Remember, out of all of Brock’s opponents, Couture absorbed the least amount of damage during his loss and inflicted the most. I know he still lost, but at least he didn’t look like Joseph Merrick by the time it was over.
I believe it is because Randy fought with more brains than the others. And that, I’m sure would be the path that Nog would follow.
I agree with you that Lesnar would probably pull out another smothering ape victory, but I don’t think it is as lopsided as you imply.
Did you forget that Kongo and Mir are fighting one another in December? Which sort of makes it hard for Nog to fight one of them in his next fight, especially if he’d like to fight sometime before March.
Yeah I think Dos Santos will probably get the winner of cain vs rothwell and the winner of frank mir vs kongo could get the loser of carwin vs brock
Justin,
OK, let me re-phrase myself:
Nogueira should fight the winner of Kongo-Mir instead of getting a un-earned title shot IMO.
Yes, much better to have him sit around for 6 more months than to have a fight lined up and waiting.
I’m sick of this “__________ doesn’t deserve ____________ and we should be happy with fighters sitting around for 8 months waiting for fight that will then mean he’s ready for the fight they just announced.”
You don’t make fights. You aren’t a professional. Your opinion is one that you spout from the safety of your keyboard, knowing that if you are proven wrong you can jsut start in on another one rather than admit that you don’t know what you are talking about.
When you have a champ, you make him fight the next best available fight. Not the next best, the next best available. Otherwise they fight once a year. No one except you wants that.
dbiz,
i am a fan of the sport and want to see the sport maintain it’s credibility and to me that means having guys really work their way to a title shot and keep the integrity of each divisions championship.
You always like to talk shhit and you do so in the comfort of your keyboard at home knowing that you can just type in your immature shhit talk without having to be face to face with someone, that’s perfectly ok because everyone here knows that’s what you like to is just talk shhit and disagree with everyone to keep your “reputaion”, but it’s ok dude you can keep talking shhit because your doing it in the comfort of YOUR keyboard so keep on typing buddy
MArvel,
At least I’m not crying about some imaginary credibility being lost just because the championships get defended regularly. That’s what gives them credibility: title defenses. Without title defenses you have a paper champion – someone who is said to be the best but doesn’t ever really have to prove it.
Ok, so the (in YOUR mind) “top” guy isn’t always next. But someone is always next, and as we’ve seen countless times…on any given night, anyone can be the top fighter. You say that Nogueira hasn’t earned a title shot just because he beat Randy, but that is a better win that Velasquez has in his entire career. Shouldn’t you reward that?
Or do you genuinely want belts sitting undefended for 8 months to a year while some mythical #1 contender tourney is worked out at each weight class? What do you do with this champions while they are waiting for a single contender to come out of a tournament, just so they can do it all again?
Your desire…lacks sense, lacks credibility, is about as well thought out as the Maginot Line and all but relegates GSP, A. Silva, and others to NYE fighters on the big show of the year.
Is that talking sh!t? No. It’s thinking something through before typing it. The fact that you can’t be bothered to do so because you’re worried about the sport losing credibility is a cop out. There is no credibility lost because GSP and A. Silva will tear through people. There is no credibility lost because the UFC is giving the Lesnar/Carwin winner a test in Nogueira as the next defense.
That is only in your head, and only because you fall into this class of people that believes, much like Highlander, there can be only one (#1 contender). And if that guy is booked, we’ll just wait 8 months for the schedules and suspensions to work themselves out. THAT hurts credibility more than what you are worried about. You have the champion fight the BEST AVAILABLE fighter (that means, not already scheduled or you re-do fights).
Your tournament idea has already screwed over 2 MW contenders. Do you really want to start that at every weight class? Your logic only holds if you are in charge of booking fights at a major org. Since you aren’t, you’re just like me. But less intelligent.
I was asking for this right after he won awesome!!!
Wasn’t there talk that the winner Velasquez/Rothwell would get a shot at the title?
No, it was originially scheduled to be Carwin v. Velasquez and that winner would get a shot, they decided to go ahead and give Carwin the shot, and Velasquez another opponent.
ATTENTION EVERYONE: VELASQUEZ HAS OFFICIALLY BE SCREWED AGAIN
….jeeze first shogun, now big nog…jeeze i guess all you have to do in the ufc anymore is beat someone who is coming off of a lose and you get a title shot…question will vera get a title shot if he destroys randy because he most likely will
I thought you were too young for whine…
mk4, what has gotten into you? the past few days ive sensed more anger in your posts… and now it seems like your attacking dbiz with an above post… hmmm, dbiz does have a valid point, one that ive made before that almost 99% of the time there will never be a clear-cut guy that deserves a title shot, just because he didnt beat someone else’s guy to get the title shot.
dbiz and bsbiz are well respected at least in my eyes because of the humor they bring to topics, but they also post valid facts as well. albeit in a different manner, and you have your own way of blending humor and bluntness as well.
id hate to see more fights/arguments in the headlines area, im on a mission to clean it up. i will start throwing around my heavyweight status, and if i have to, i will pull a roy nelson on you!
It’s one thing to disagree but to criticize and judge BECAUSE YOU DON”T AGREE, is a different story and not something i personally respect. It’s becoming a trend for dudes to complain and criticize someone elses opinion and state that they “don’t know what they’re talking about” only because the opinion is a different one, or one against a fighter you personally like. So i agree with MK4.
bigchris2328,
dude i have nothing against dbiz or anyones opinion, but the dude was somewhat indirectly taking shots at me too. I just responded because sometimes he gets away with it and it gets on my nerves because when i “indirectly take shots”, my stuff gets edited, but no worries dude and for the record i’m not angry just passionate about my stance on certain things
.
How in the WORLD is Velasquez getting screwed??? What has he done to earn a mandatory title shot? Hes beaten one legitimate opponent and it wasn’t in spectaculor fashion either.
I agree, Velasquez is not getting screwed, he’s no where near a title shot. If you want to talk about big Nog not deserving, how the heck are you gonna say that Velasquez is?
Im thinkin the winner of Velasquez/Rothwell should fight dos santos. then the winner of that fight could either get a title shot or be right inline for one. I think if Mir beats Kongo and and Nog wins the belt he will get a shot at that time but if Brock still has it they might have him foght one more time before they book the rubber match.
Whats so different about Carwin? He really only beat one credible heavyweight. (And I use that term loosely.) I like both fighters but to me, Carwin and Velsquez are one in the same.
Nog impressed the crap out of me in the Couture fight. He looked fresh and ready to go. He is the only one that makes sense for the next title shot even though I don’t agree with it like a lot of people don’t. Who else deserves a shot? Umm NO one. I’m afraid that when Brock takes care of Carwin we will see just how much trouble the HW division is in. “To me” Carwin is the only real threat to Brock ONLY because of his size. I’ve met both guys and Brock is way bigger than Carwin so the size issue i just mentioned pry won’t be enough to beat him. Don’t forget that Gonzaga broke his nose with the first punch he threw that landed if I’m not mistaken.
You’re correct gonzaga broke his nose with that shot but carwin still recovered and ko’d him. very Impressive imo.
Yeah even though imho NOG should have finished randy, he did look way different in that fight. He was in awesome shape and clearly better prepared then when he fought mir. He was aggressive and technical and really punished couture.
The only way i see nog beating lesnar is obviously by catching him in a sub like mir did, but brock would be prepared for that and would expect a shoot. I think brock is a little too strong and big for nog though.
Nogueira would have a much better chance @ carwin and I base this solely on the fact that i havent seen carwins ground game and because carwin is not as big as brock.
What a crock of ****! Nog wins a decision over couture who should be a light heavyweight and now he gets a shot at the title. At best he should get the winner of valasquez vs. rothwell or mir vs congo. This absolutely makes no sense at all. Brock will murder nog no question. The guy is already half retarded from all the shots to the head I guess Dana wants to take him all the way.
If Lesnar wins against Carwin, (which he will) and then defeats Nogueira… no one will stop that guy
i kinda believe that jake, only because whos left in the hw division after carwin and big nog? cane? rothwell? duffee? Big Country? there is no legit contender after nog and shane imo. duffee is about 4 wins away from being considered a legit threat, not to mention he needs two wins against a top 10 contender. you could argue mir as the next guy after nog, but mir looked like a new guy at 100, and brock completely dominated him.
Man I hope Nog goes against Brock and subs him. If Mir did it Nog can. As long as Nog shows up like he did vs Randy and not like he did vs Mir he has a good shot. I can’t handle Brocks face anymore, guy drives me mad!
if mir did it once why wasnt he able to do it again at 100 fighttrends.com?…answer is… brock evolved his mma game like a real mixed martial artist does, now your thinking nog can do it if he were to face brock based on what? precedent from the first brock-mir fight? mir and nog’s jitz are the best at heavyweight in the ufc, you could debate endlessly on which one is better, but mir couldnt sub brock the second time they fought, and i honestly dont think a smaller weaker nog will if he were to fight brock.
i see where your coming from about brock’s face, i cant stand looking at the guy, but if carwin cant beat him, i highly doubt anyone in the ufc will anytime soon.
idk about you guys but they should just take off carwin and put big nog and put back carwin vs cain cuz that fight was sic idk thats how i see it or at least want to see it lmao
One win and Nog gets a shot. What if Velasquez wins or Congo, where are they in the mix. Nog should face Velasquez if he wins, not a title shot next.
I meant “One win.”
i only care about seeing either Carwin or NOG beat up on Lesnar, doesn’t matter to me who wears the strap as long as it isn’t Brock
Lesnar’s gonna be champ for a while!!
Wow.
I’m away from the frenZy for one day and it all seems to hit the UFC HW fan.
My first thought, as always, it to tear Lesnar a new one, even when he’s only peripherally mentioned, but I’m trying to avoid that these days.
My second thought, is that giving BigNog a title opportunity after winning BY DECISION, not T/KO or submission, against Randy Couture shows just how much respect he still commands.
“Not bad for an old man”…
My third thought was that a BigNog-Lesnar fight won’t look appreciably different than the second Mir-Lesnar fight did.
Both BigNog and Mir [when healthy] have somewhat average cardio, stand-up and wrestling, and insanely above average BJJ.
Lesnar, who’s cardio has yet to be accurately determined, has somewhat average stand-up and catch-wrestling, and insanely above average GnP, enhanced by his Neanderthalic size and strength and NCAA championship-caliber wrestling.
This breakdown adds up to another brutal victory for Lesnar, and another brutal beating for BigNog, which is the LAST thing he needs with all of the mileage already on his fight odometer.
My fourth and final thought on this thing was that if Carwin can’t out-caveman Lesnar in the cage, we’re all going to be stuck with the Vanilla Gorilla as HW champ for the foreseeable future, until some other HWs either bulk up, develop more complete MMA skillsets, or gain more Octagon experience, or in some cases, all three…
Can’t wait to see Carwin v. Big Nog.