Thread: ufc newsbits - 5 feb

A light-heavyweight match-up between former UFC lightweight champion Forrest Griffin (17-6 MMA, 8-4 UFC) and recent Brazilian import Antonio Rogerio Nogueira (18-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC), otherwise known as "Lil Nog," is in the works for the recently rescheduled UFC 113 event in Montreal.

The fight was first reported Tuesday by Tatame.com and subsequently confirmed by sources close to the situation.

Verbal agreements are in place, and contracts are expected to be finalized shortly.

Griffin shrugged off past demons by reversing a split-decision loss against former light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz this past November at UFC 106. Three months prior, Griffin fell prey to the devastating hands of middleweight champion Anderson Silva at UFC 101 and ran from the arena following a knockout loss.

After besting Quinton Jackson at UFC 86 for the 205-pound belt, Griffin failed to defend his title at UFC 92 when Rashad Evans stopped him with strikes in the third round.

Still, Griffin remains one of the UFC's most popular fighters with notable wins over Jackson and Mauricio "Shogun" Rua. He recently capitalized on his celebrity with the New York Times bestselling book, "Got Fight?"

Nogueira made his UFC debut on the undercard of Griffin's most recent win and stopped the highly touted prospect Luiz Cane in a "Knockout of the Night" performance.

The twin brother of former PRIDE and UFC champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Rogerio Nogueira was acquired by the UFC following the collapse of Affliction Entertainment this past August. He entered the octagon on a five-fight win streak and carries notable wins over Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem, and Kazushi Sakuraba, among others.

The Nogueira brothers split time between training facilities in Rio de Janeiro and Los Angeles.

UFC 113 was originally slated for May 1 but was moved to May 8 when UFC president Dana White elected to sidestep a possible pay-per-view showdown with boxing's potential Floyd Mayweather vs. Shane Mosley superfight. UFC 113 is the promotion's third trip to Montreal after two prior sellouts at the 21,000-seat Bell Centre.

Griffin vs. Nogueira is expected for the main card of UFC 113. A light heavyweight rematch between champion Lyoto Machida and Rua is expected to headline the Canadian event.

Champ Lyoto Machida vs. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua (for light heavyweight title)*
Paul Daley vs. Josh Koscheck*
Forrest Griffin vs. Antonio Rogerio Nogueira*
Kevin "Kimbo Slice" Ferguson vs. Matt Mitrione*
Alan Belcher vs. Patrick Cote*
Jeremy Stephens vs. Sam Stout*
T.J. Grant vs. Johny Hendricks
Marcus Davis vs. Jonathan Goulet*

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Chael Sonnen on anderson silva


I would imagine, who knows what Anderson's doing. At the end of the day, who cares," said Sonnen. "If he wants to leave the division, leave the sport, who cares. Beat it, nobody tunes in to watch him anyways, and his little fake 'I don't speak English.

"You want me to let you in on a secret, Anderson Silva speaks perfect English. He just has such a low amount of respect for you and all the rest of the media that he pretends he doesn't. I've had conversations with Anderson Silva in perfect English, and on top of that he's so boring to listen to that he and his rocket scientist manager, Ed Soares, who is also about as exciting as watching grass grow, have decided that Ed is better on the mic than Anderson, so just let Ed do the talking.

Sonnen says Silva's disdain for the media reaches back to other fighters as well, who speak about the subject in private amongst themselves.

"It's quite ironic that all the media comes on and talks about how great this guy is for reasons that are completely un-understandable to me. How great Anderson Silva is, and all of us fighters are in the back going, 'jeez, they're out there massaging his ego, Anderson hates them so much, he pretends he can't understand them,’" Sonnen stated.

One person who will not be signing up for the Anderson Silva fan club anytime soon is Sonnen, who also slammed the champion for his top pound-for-pound status, and believes that if they ever do fight, the verbal warfare will be decidedly one-sided.

"That guy's no more the top fighter out there than Bigfoot is roaming the woods," said Sonnen. "That is an absolute myth, and all these guys can buy into it, but there's a young man out in Portland, Ore., that is not signing up on that bandwagon.


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Jake Shields is to be one of Chuck Liddell’s assistants on season 11 of The Ultimate Fighter, which begins filming next week. He will be heading to Las Vegas tomorrow and will be there for the duration of the contestants’ six-week stay in the TUF house.

His inclusion in the show might seem to odd to some viewers, given the Shields competes in Strikeforce, currently the UFC’s main rival as an MMA promotion. As the UFC is going to be counter-programming Strikeforce this year in the same way it countered Affliction broadcasts, it will be interesting to see how much airtime Shields gets.

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Gegard Mousasi will join Georges St. Pierre in Miami this week to assist the UFC welterweight champion for a part of his training camp in preparation for St. Pierre's title defense against Dan Hardy at UFC 111 on March 27 in Newark, N.J.

Currently in Glendale, Calif., preparing for an appearance on HDNet’s “Inside MMA” which airs Friday, the Strikeforce light heavyweight champion said he will spend a few days with St. Pierre’s team in Miami, where Mousasi will also attend Strikeforce’s Saturday event at the BankAtlantic Center in Sunrise, Fla. Then, Mousasi will fly with the team to Las Vegas for an additional week of training.

Sonnen is a huge douche, I hope Nate breaks him in half.

yeah, did you ever hear his comments on fedor