Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has withdrawn from his co-headlining light heavyweight contest against Brandon Vera at UFC 109 on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas due to injury, Sherdog.com has learned from multiple sources.
Nogueira, the brother of former UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, suffered a fractured ankle, said both sources. Nogueira’s manager, Ed Soares, could not be initially reached to confirm the injury.
This is just another huge downer. “Lil Nog” had a major coming out with his destruction of Luiz Cane and was looking to ride that momentum into a fight with Vera.
A fractured ankle is one of those injuries that really takes time to recover from as well as any attempt to rush back can just result in re-injury. Without knowing the extent to which it is fractured it is very hard to say how long to expect him out but this is a setback for both he and the UFC, which is going through an injury plagued period like we’ve never seen in the sport.