Two of the UFC’s top light heavyweights will do battle in Montreal on May 8th when Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3, 1-0 UFC), better known to fans as “Lil’ Nog” and Forrest Griffin (17-6, 8-4 UFC) meet on the main card of UFC 113. MMA Junkie confirms the initial report by Tatame:
The fight was first reported Tuesday by Tatame.com and subsequently confirmed to MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) by sources close to the situation.
Verbal agreements are in place, and contracts are expected to be finalized shortly.
Griffin is coming off a close, but clear-cut decision over Tito Ortiz at UFC 106 while Nogueira made a statement in his UFC debut by knocking out the highly-touted Luiz Cane at the same event.
Brent Brookhouse opines on SBNation.com:
The impressive way that “lil Nog” blasted Luiz Cane really made a mark on a lot of people. If he can touch Forrest Griffin’s rather questionable chin with one of his hard left handed shots he could put himself directly into the title hunt.
When released the odds should lean fairly heavily in favor of the Brazilian given that his boxing technique is more refined than Forrest’s and, while Griffin has very underrated jiu-jitsu skills, the Nogueira brothers possess some of the best skills on the ground of anyone in the MMA game.
Still, the skills and experience of Forrest should not be overlooked. He was able to take a decision from ‘Rampage’ Jackson and displayed a very strong ability to stick to his gameplan and gain the title through a very blue collar performance. Should he be able to avoid the power and work a patient game, maybe he can work his way to a three round decision.
With this addition, the UFC 113 card now includes:
Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio “Shogun” Rua
Josh Koscheck vs. Paul Daley
Forrest Griffin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
Patrick Cote vs. Alan Belcher
Kimbo Slice vs. Matt Mitrione
Sam Stout vs. Jeremy Stephens
Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet
Johny Hendricks vs. TJ Grant
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