Antonio Rogerio Nogueira vs. Forrest Griffin in the works for UFC 113 in Montreal
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 to MMAjunkie.com (http://www.mmajunkie.com) 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.
In any manner, for more on UFC 113, check out the UFC Rumors section of MMAjunkie.com.
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