Sylvia/Vera Winner Will Face Nogueira For Title. Plus More On Couture
Another twist now added to UFC 77. According to Kevin Iole’s Yahoo! Sports article, the winner of the bout taking place in Cincinatti between Tim Sylvia and Brandon Vera will go on to face Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira for the now vacant UFC heavyweight title. Toward the bottom of the article Iole states “The winner of the Brandon Vera-Tim Sylvia fight on Saturday at UFC 77 in Cincinnati will meet Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the vacant heavyweight title sometime early next year.”
This comes as a bit of a surprise to me since Nogueira has only had one fight in the UFC so far and that was against Heath Herring, someone he had beaten twice in previous encounters while in PRIDE. Then again the UFC has done this before, giving fellow PRIDE fighter Quinton Jackson only one debatably “easy” fight with Marvin Eastman before offering him a title shot/rematch with Liddell. While some feel that Nogueira is being offered a title shot prematurely, I’m definitely excited to see the match between Minotauro and Brandon Vera in the future (Yes, I’m assuming Vera will win on Saturday.)
Back to Randy Couture news. The article goes on to say that fans should expect Couture to attempt to fight after nine months, when he should be a free agent. Though legal battles are likely to follow:
“Couture believes he can be a free agent after sitting out nine months, which would mean he figures he can fight Emelianenko sometime in late spring or early summer of 2008. UFC president Dana White insists Couture must fight twice for the UFC to fulfill his contract and become a free agent. Those differences of opinion are going to land the parties in court. After nine months, expect Couture to try to fight and the UFC to go to court to stop him. Couture will argue that time is of the essence, because he’ll be nearly 45, and that if he isn’t granted a court order and allowed to fight, he’ll be irreparably harmed. The UFC will argue that its entire business will be undermined if Couture is allowed to break his contract.”
So what do we think? Will Couture be able to fight again with or without Dana Whites blessing? Only time will tell.
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Sylvia/Vera should be for the Vacant Title. Nog/Kongo should be for # 1 contention status. Why wait to fill the position. If Nog is sooo good, and already has dibs, why not just let him try to take it from whoever wins this Saturday? These Guys (UFC) are killing me.
If I was in charge of making decisions Mikey I would have done what you suggested. Vera or Sylvia are going to fight Nog anyways so why not give one of them the belt coming into the matchup rather than wait several months before crowning a new champ.
The UFC should want to move on from the Couture situation as soon as possible and crowning a new champ in Cincinnati would have done that and likely increased the PPV buy rate in the process.
And what if Kongo beats Nog. The UFC has been making some really “off” decisions as of late. I think Dana might need to have his office checked for a gas leak.
“…The UFC should want to move on from the Couture situation as soon as possible…”
This is the correct approach, so why isn’t Dana White doing it?
Does Dana still hold out hope that Couture can be brought back to the UFC to finish out his contract?
I wonder, he kind of made statements about working it out, didn’t he?
That (the “…hope that Couture can be brought back to the UFC to finish out his contract…”) or he just doesn’t think either (Vera or Sylvia) are worthy of the title at this time until they prove it against someone he feels is. Maybe he feels like whoever wins will just turn around and lose it to Nog. And he doesn’t want to give either the satisfaction of having it for what he feels like will be a short period of time.
I would only agree with the Vera-Sylvia fight for the vacant title due to Nogueira’s last fight with Herring. Fact is, Herring has a granite chin and outstanding grappling. I don’t mind see the winner of Syliva-Vera vs. Minotauro. Vera hasn’t fought in forever, and Sylvia is coming off lackluster performances. I don’t think they deserve a shot at the title at this point, but I can see why people would say so.
Hmm, let me be more clear, I only agree with Vera-Sylvia because Nogueira was unimpressive againt Herring.
I think the winner of Vera-Sylvia fighting Nog is inevitable so why not crown one champ. Whether Nogueira fights Kongo before a possible title fight or after is really unimportant to me.
I don’t think his win over Herring was unimpressive but it wasn’t outstanding or above average, especially considering Herring’s showing thus far in the UFC.
i would really like to see nog take on vera.i think that would be a really good match up. either way nog is probably the right man to be in a title fight although it might be a little sooner than we thought he would.
nog i cant beilive this he is getting a title fight agnist whoever wins silvia vera fight i think kongo deserves a title shot more then nog this blows
I wonder if the ideal isn’t t get Vera the belt. He has been promoted as the next big thing. With Couture resigning and Liddell, Hughes, and Ortiz on the way out, the UFC needs a star. Sylvia won’t be that. Big Nog won’t be that. Vera can be, but he has to get by Sylvia and Nogueira neither of which are gimmes. Surely Dana White will be rooting for Vera. As he will be rooting for Matt Hughes or Georges St. Pierre to take the title from Matt Serra, all because of star power.
Is everyone forgetting about Arlovski? Why is he not being mentioned in regards to a claim at the title shot in early 2008? How about a Kongo Vs Arlovski fight on the 79 card. My god Andrei is only 28 and has already been champion once. How about a Mir Vs Nog fight also on the 79 card. Or Mir Vs Crop cop fight in early 2008. People need to not sleep on the “pit bull” he is the long term future of the Heavyweight division.
yeah lane i agree with you about arlovski. but am i right in saying he only has one fight left on his deal??? that will have to be sorted before you can put him in for the title.i agree though that he is a tough fight for anyone in the division.
I agree with you Lane. What about Arlovksi? The guy beats a tough guy in Werdum, who is ranked in the Top Ten at Heavyweight and he isn’t even mentioned. It is bogus that Minotauro gets a title fight in his second UFC appearance after he didn’t exactly have an impressive performance against Herring. Arlovski should be the next champ, but it might even be possible that after his UFC contract expires, he goes to
M-1 to fight Fedor.
I like Arlovski. I think he needs to have one or two dominating performances before he gets a shot at the title. He is deserving.
UFC is failing so hard right now.. They say winner of Sylvia/Vera will fight Big Nog for a title shot yet….he hasn’t even won his fight.. Just watch as Kongo beats Big Nog which will cause so many people to go in an uproar…causing more people to say how the UFC is bad…more people wanting other fight companies to start up which are not horribly corrupt and noticeably running themselves into the ground is just a matter of time.
Well Sylvia is going to be the top heavyweight again. He is healthy and tough. I think he would drop Nog…like Herring did..but Tim wont let him get up.
yeah i like silvia and vera but i would go with silvia and he will beat nog but watch out 4 kongo he will destroy guys in this division
Ok guys this simple i don’t really beleve tim sylvia should get a shot at the title just yet but i guess that weightclass just does not have the compotition the the others have
My solution Vera/Sylvia amd Nog/Kongo both #1 contender fight the 2 go on to face each other for the title
i’m sick of ufc policy.a real champ in pride was not dan henderson.was mauricio shogun.but not this is the problem.problem is why ufc didn’t took the others big fighters from pride.where are alexander emilianenko, sergey kharitonov, soukoudjou, ricardo arona , rogerio nogueira , takanori gomi and the biggest all time mma fighter inb the world, the one and only FEDOR EMILIANENKO? WHY THEY LET HIM GET AWAY? is unbelivible!! the real battle between ufc and pride is RANDY COUTOURE vs FEDOR EMILIANENKO
nogueira is gonna win whithout problems the belt.fedor was the only who can stop him anytime he wants, but not sylvia and vera
Alexander Emelianenko has big visa issues. He’s a felon in Russia and the U.S. has always been adamant on allowing them into the United States. Kharitonov would love to stay in Asia, from what I understand, he also isn’t one of the best heavyweights. He has great boxing skills and his ground game isn’t half bad when he uses it, but I think there are better guys out there. Soukoudjou should be signed by the UFC, it’s beyond me why they haven’t. Arona has already expressed his desire to move to the UFC. I believe they will pick him up soon enough, especially if a few guys drop down a class. Little Nog has never been as great as his brother, although he would have been a decent addition. Gomi is most likely going to spearhead WVR with Yoshida, and to be honest, I miss PRIDE with a passion. Unbelievable fights along with great production and entrances, made every event feel like an epic saga.
thank you leland for for your commentary.personally i like very much mark hunt but he is too hard for ufc category.you didn’t tell nothing about fedor
Hunt is a mystery. His weight is massive, and I wonder if he could cut to 265. If he could, he could be a force in the cage, but I doubt he even wants to consider losing that weight.
Fedor Emelianenko… by far my favorite fighter of all time. And why? He uses transitions better than ANYONE in MMA. You can tout his submissions, his striking, his smart ring control, but in the end, his transitions have ended fights with ease. That’s why I believe Couture will be overwhelmed. One minute you believe you have Fedor, and the next thing you know, you are weeping in the corner due to an armbar win by Fedor. It’s that simple for him.
Couture vs. Fedor is an interesting matchup because Couture is known to have some of the best clinchwork and dirty boxing in the game. He is also able to control bodies better than anyone I’ve seen. Problem is, Fedor is the master of the reversal, and once you get to the floor, you are still in his world. Fedor’s striking is notches above Couture as well. He throws with quickness and lots of power. I could definitely see it ending either on the ground or on the feet, but I can’t be against Fedor. Couture definitely has a shot, but I just don’t honestly think he can take Fedor out.
Arlovski has been somewhat forgotten. Silvia should of fought kongo since he beat cro-cop.Cro-cop should fight Arlovski. I think Kongo could take out Silvia if he works his legs. Nog hasn’t really proved any thing in the ufc even do he’s a great mma fighter. Vera is probably the way to go.. even do i’m surprised he couldn’t take out Sylvia.. Fact is Ufc is becoming more for the money and less show. How could guys coming in Ufc get title shots so soon? It’s becoming more for stardum. Either way.. i would like to see vera get the title shot.. he’s more well rounded even do for the Sylvia fight he was not explosive like usually.. he claimes he broke a hand.. could be..
This is ****. AA was promised the title shot and had it taken away because his fight with werdum was boring. And Timmy’s fight with Vera wasn’t?
If RC is not going to fight nog, then kongo should by the ‘exciting fight’ logic.