The Juggernaut MMA News Report 07.14.10: Mir vs. Big Nog 2

Posted by Jonathan Solomon on 07.14.2010

News on Bobby Lashley's next opponent, another NCAA champion starting in MMA, Kimbo Slice fighting again, plus why you should be excited for Mir vs. Big Nog 2 and more in this week's 411 Juggernaut News Report!

Will History Repeat Itself?


UFC 119 may not be official just yet but it may feature one of the more intriguing heavyweight fights of the year. You may call me crazy but that fight is a rematch between Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, reportedly being prepared for the UFC's debut in Indiana on September 25th. Yes, I understand that both heavyweights are viewed as yesterday's news but this fight could be the launching point for either man's career rejuvenation.

Let's start way back, two years ago, in 2008. Frank Mir had become the MMA superhero by submitting Brock Lesnar in his UFC debut earlier that year at UFC 81 in February. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had become the interim-heavyweight champion by submitting Tim Sylvia (in what would be Sylvia's final UFC fight) on the same show. The reigning champion of the division was Randy Couture who was sitting out due to a contract dispute with the UFC after they failed to sign Fedor Emelianenko. In 2008, Couture hoped to get out of his UFC contract and be able to fight the then-number one heavyweight anywhere else in the world.

Eventually, realizing he was fighting a losing battle, Randy Couture patched things up with the UFC and returned in the fall of 2008. Couture lost the belt to Brock Lesnar (who earned the title shot by dominating Heath Herring in August) in November.

In September, the 9th season of The Ultimate Fighter debuted on SpikeTV featuring coaches Frank Mir and Rodrigo Nogueira in preparation for their fight at UFC 92 in December. That season would cement Big Nog's reputation as one of the nicest men in the sport. As for Frank Mir, he came off as a pompous/cocky fighter whose head grew too large from his victory over MMA newcomer Brock Lesnar. After all, Nogueira was a legend of the sport who had only suffered losses against Josh Barnett, Fedor Emelianenko and Dan Henderson (all by decisions). Nogueira's career at that time included impressive wins over the likes of Valentijn Overeem, Volk Han, Mark Coleman, Bob Sapp, Semmy Schilt, Heath Herring, Dan Henderson, Cro Cop, Sergei Kharitonov, Fabricio Werdum, Josh Barnett and Tim Sylvia.

Frank Mir's career history at the time included losses against Ian Freeman, Marcio Cruz and Brandon Vera. His biggest wins came against names such as Tank Abbott, Wes Sims, Tim Sylvia, Antoni Hardonk and Brock Lesnar.

Add to the fact that Nogueira had NEVER been finished in a fight and you have quite the support for the Brazilian fighter over the submission ace out of Las Vegas.

What the public did not know heading into their December fight was the fact that Rodrigo Nogueira had a staph infection in training and was ill going into the fight. Only after the fight did that news make the rounds. In the fight, Frank Mir looked quick on his feet with explosive boxing and Nogueira looked old and slow-footed. Mir ended up knocking Nogueira out in the second round to become the new interim-champion.



Fast forward to modern day and both men look to be hanging by a string to the hopes of being title contenders in the near future. Both men are 1-2 in their last three fights with each being knocked out their defeats. Frank Mir lost the rematch with Brock Lesnar, came back and looked amazing in choking out Cheick Kongo but was viciously knocked out by Shane Carwin in March of this year. After the loss to Mir, Nogueira returned eight months later to defeat Randy Couture by decision in one of the more entertaining fights of 2009. He then fought one of the big up-and-coming fighters in Cain Velasquez in February of this year and was knocked out early in the first round.

Now, both men NEED to win. Despite the fact both men are accomplished fighters with name recognition, a loss all but eliminates them from any potential title shot consideration for years.

Nogueira turned 34-years old last month and with 40 professional fights under his belt, he clearly has seen better days. Frank Mir is 31-years old and only has 18 professional fights and in each of his five losses, has been knocked out.

Either man is likely two wins away from another shot at the UFC championship. For Frank Mir, he does have one factor in his corner. A trilogy with Brock Lesnar would likely do huge business (assuming Lesnar defeats Cain Velasquez in October). If both Mir and Lesnar win these upcoming fights, would the UFC risk losing out on a huge payday just so people cannot bitch and moan about Mir getting a title shot so soon?

What counts against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira these days is the view that his body is letting him down. No longer can he take the monster strikes to the head and persevere to win the fight (as he did in his UFC debut against Heath Herring). For the first time when he fought Velasquez, he did not look anything like the legendary Nogueira. His problem may be a fact that the big boys of the heavyweight division in 2010 and beyond are all powerful strikers with great chins of their own. Whether it's Brock Lesnar, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin or even Nogueira's own student Junior dos Santos.

JDS will fight Roy Nelson next month with the next title shot on the line. Clearly, there is less than zero possibility that dos Santos and Big Nog ever fight each other outside of the Blackhouse gym. However, if Nelson upsets the Brazilian powerhouse, could a fight with the latter's mentor be a road worth going down? I think so.

Ironically, at this stage in their careers when Nogueira is experiencing these problems, his legendary rival, Fedor Emelianenko suffered his first decisive loss...to the best heavyweight grappler in the sport, Fabricio Werdum. Werdum did what Nogueira could not do in 2003 or 2004.

I may have painted a bleak picture for this upcoming fight, but hopefully you are as excited to see this rematch as I am.

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JUGGERNAUT NEWS BRIEFS

- TUF 11 winner Court McGee will fight Ryan Jensen at UFC 121 on October 23rd in Anaheim, California. The huge main event for UFC 121 is officially scheduled to be the heavyweight title fight between champion Brock Lesnar and challenger Cain Velasquez.

- Moosin MMA is planning to hold their second show on October 9th in Chicago, Illinois. Although nothing is official, they hope to have Tim Sylvia, Kimbo Slice, Mariusz Pudzianowski and Hong Man Choi on the card. In fact, one of the fights they hope to book would pit Slice against the Polish strongman, Pudzianowski.trol

- The UFC Fight Night 22 card set for September 15th on Spike TV has been officially announced. The main event will see Demian Maia fight Alan Belcher with a co-main event featuring a rematch between Mac Danzig and Matt Wiman. Also scheduled for TV fights include Gleison Tibau vs. Jim Miller and Cole Miller vs. Ross Pearson.

- Reports say former UFC welterweight Paul Daley is nearing a deal to enter the season-three Bellator welterweight tournament.

- Former WEC bantamweight champion and top pound-for-pound fighter Miguel Torres is coming off back-to-back losses for the first time in his 40-plus fight career. He will attempt to stop the losing streak at WEC 51 in September when he reportedly will fight Charlie Valencia.

- Urijah Faber was forced to withdraw from WEC 50 due to an undisclosed injury. The August 18th show was set to feature Faber's debut as a bantamweight against Takeya Mizugaki. Reports say there will be no replacement for Faber and Mizugaki will not compete on the show. The main event of the show will see bantamweight champion Dominick Cruz defend the belt against Joseph Benavidez.

- The UFC 120 main event is expected to be announced as Michael Bisping against Yoshihiro Akiyama. The London, England event will air in America on Spike TV via delay on October 16th.

- 2009 NCAA heavyweight wrestling champion Mark Ellis has signed with Zinkin Entertainment for management as he pursues a career in MMA. Ellis wrestled for the University of Missouri along with current rising MMA prospect and former United States Olympian Ben Askren. Ellis is training at the American Kickboxing Academy.

- Strikeforce has officially announced their upcoming Houston show on August 21st will feature a fight to determine their new middleweight champion. Tim Kennedy will fight Jacare Souza for the vacant championship. Also on the card will be King Mo's first title defense of the light heavyweight strap against Rafael Cavalcante. K.J. Noons will fight Jorge Gurgel and Bobby Lashley is expected to fight on the Showtime card (possibly against Ron Sparks).

- Caol Uno announced plans to drop to featherweight and compete at DREAM 16 in September.

- Results from last week's DREAM 15 show in Japan: Shinya Aoki def. Tatsuya Kawajiri via achilles lock submission to retain the lightweight championship (Kawajiri suffered a broken ankle because he decided not to tap out); JZ Cavalcante def. Katsunori Kikuno via split decision (JZ is now expected to begin fighting in Strikeforce); Gegard Mousasi def. Jake O'Brien via guillotine choke submission; Tatsuya Mizuno def. Melvin Manhoef via Kimura submission (Mousasi will fight Mizuno to determine the DREAM light heavyweight champion); Michihiro Omigawa def. Young Sam Jung via guillotine choke submission; Mitsuhiro Ishida def. DJ.taiki via unanimous decision; Kazuhiro Nakamura def. Karl Amoussou via unanimous decision

- Results from last week's Impact FC 1 show in Australia: Josh Barnett def. Geronimo dos Santos via TKO; Brian Ebersole def. Carlos Newton via unanimous decision; Sokoudjou def. Joaquim Ferreira via TKO; Jeff Monson def. Ubiratan Lima Marinho via unanimous decision; Karo Parisyan def. Ben Mortimer via rear naked choke submission

- Results from last week's Palace Fights 5 show in California: Rob McCullough def. Isaac de Jesus via TKO; David Mitchell def. Poppies Martinez via technical submission by triangle choke; John Alessio def. War Machine via technical submission by rear naked choke; Michael McDonald def. Cole Escovedo via KO, Gabe Ruediger def. Lenny Lovata via TKO

- The UFC recently signed MMA veteran Mark Hunt and reportedly did so to "fulfill a contractual obligation when Zuffa purchased PRIDE (in 2007)" according to middleeasy.com.

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JUGGERNAUT VIDEO OF THE WEEK

Bobby Lashley was recently interviewed by the crew over at HD-NET's Inside MMA (you must watch if you have HD-NET) about his MMA career, plus his former pro wrestling career. Lashley talks about comparing his MMA career with Brock Lesnar's road in the UFC plus his desire to fight Fedor Emelianenko.





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