Rampage and Nogueira Ready to Rumble; Dana White Holds Suspense
Rumours have surfaced that a super fight between Quinton “Rampage” Jackson and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is in the works and is tentatively pencilled in September at UFC 119.
According to the Brazilian website TATAME.com, Nogueira’s coach has revealed a possible September return date for his ward, and that the opponent would be the former UFC Light Heavyweight champion.
Although nothing has been officially signed, the match up has been verbally agreed upon for September.
In the interview, the Brazilian’s boxing coach Luis Carlos Dórea said: "It's set that he'll be back in September, and rumours point that his opponent might be Quinton Jackson. It'd be a great fight for Rogerio. He's a former UFC champion and a victory over him will move us pretty close to the title."
In his last outing, Nogueira did not escape unscathed as he came away with a controversial split decision against late replacement Jason Brilz at UFC 114.
Originally, Lil’ Nog was slated to face off against Shogun Rua conqueror Forrest Griffin. The latter had to pull out of the match due to an injury.
Jackson, on the other hand, is coming off a disappointing loss against bitter rival Rashad Evans. Rampage’s defeat happened on the same night as Nogueira’s fight, serving as the card’s main event.
Heading into the match, Rampage was slightly favoured to notch the win against Evans, given his back-to-back wins over Wanderlei Silva and Keith Jardine.
Unfortunately for him, he was never really in the fight as he was thoroughly out-wrestled en route to a unanimous decision loss.
Meanwhile, Dana White was quick to deny reports that a fight between the two 205lbs protagonists has been ironed out.
When asked about the mouth-watering clash between Rampage and Nogueira, White said: “It’s not true, we don’t have anything set up yet. With that division right now, Little Nog could fight Rampage, Rampage could fight Machida. There are a lot of fights we could make and we haven’t made any decisions on that fight. We’re looking at all of them. Time-wise, Rampage is still promoting the [A-Team] movie overseas, so we’re trying to figure out what the next fight will be.”
While White has refused to confirm the Light Heavyweight clash, this would most likely happen because Jackson would need to fight a solid contender in his next outing to wash away the bitter taste left by his loss to Evans.
Nogueira would need a big name for his next fight because many people believe Jason Brilz, his last opponent, did enough to warrant a decision victory.
Prior to that, Nogueira blasted Luiz Cane in the very first round, giving the Brazilian a victory in his UFC debut.
Now with two wins inside the octagon for the Brazilian Jiu Jitsu specialist, Nogueira has placed himself in a very attractive position for a shot at the 205lbs belt.
Asked whether his ward could easily take on Rampage en route to the title, Dórea stated: “He’s a complete athlete, hard to be taken down… Who puts its own strategy on the fight will win, but we believe a lot on Rogerio’s movement… We’ll work hard to get this victory.”
The UFC only has top athletes and Quinton Jackson is really dangerous,” Dórea continued. “It’d be a great fight, but the UFC didn’t confirm anything yet,” added the boxing coach.
A fight of this magnitude has to happen. With a potential Jackson - Nogueira brawl, we may see a clearer picture of what will go down in the talent-heavy 205lbs division.
Other rumoured bouts for the already-thrilling UFC 119 fight card include Melvin Guillard vs. Jeremy Stephens and Joey Beltran vs. Matt Mitrione.
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