MMAConvert.com

Looks like the big light heavyweight match between Forrest Griffin and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is going to take place at UFC 114, not UFC 113 as initially believed.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to Griffin that the contest, which was originally believed to be taking place at UFC 113 in Montreal on May 8, is actually targeted for UFC 114 in Las Vegas on May 29.

Bout agreements for the matchup, which is likely for a co-main event slot, are expected to be finalized shortly.

It was not immediately clear whether the May 29 booking was a result of a change in plans for the two fighters or whether the UFC had always intended the fight for the Las Vegas show.

Guess that means Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley are going to get that co-main event slot under Lyoto Machida and Shogun Rua after all.

Image via Sherdog

Forrest Griffin is expected to take on Antonio Rogerio Nogueira at UFC 113, but judging by his thoughts on the match-up before he took it, it’s not a fight he’s particularly crazy about.

Mike: Speaking of other fights, Lil Nog said he would like a fight with you. Is that something you’d be interested in?

Forrest: That is a horrible fight for me. I have trained with his brother a little bit, so he already has the “inside scoop” on me, he’s a southpaw, has got a good chin, and has good power. Plus he is pretty solid on the ground. The only place I would have an advantage would be wrestling… and my wrestling is not that good. SO yeah, that’s a tough matchup for me. I’d do it, if that’s what they wanted, but being straight up, there are other guys I’d rather fight.

I don’t think the match-up is as “horrible” as Forrest makes it sound, but it’s definitely going to be a tough fight for him. Lil’ Nog has good boxing, great ji-jitsu and a solid chin. Forrest doesn’t have the power to knock him out, and even though he has an underrated jiu-jitsu game, it’s extremely unlikely he’s going to submit a Nogueira. That doesn’t mean he can’t win, he just doesn’t have as many weapons to finish the fight as Lil’ Nog does.

Image via Sherdog. Tip via WKR.

UFC 113 may not have Rampage Jackson vs. Rashad Evans anymore, but it looks like we’re going to get an awesome light heavyweight match-up to make up for it. According to Tatame, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will return to action following his big win over Luiz Cane against Forrest Griffin.

After the debut in the UFC, with a fist round knockout victory over Luis Cane, the Bahia native Rogério “Minotouro” Nogueira already knows when he’ll be back to the octagon. Sources close to the fighter informed TATAME.com that he’ll face Forrest Griffin at UFC 113, on May 8th, and the fighter confirmed the negotiations. “It’s almost set, we’re negotiating, but it’s 100% yet. It’s not confirmed by the UFC yet”, Nogueira said.

MMA Junkie among other outlets have confirmed the news, so this one sounds pretty solid for Montreal. Looks like Josh Koscheck and Paul Daley just got the boot from their co-main event slot.

Image via Sherdog

Here we go again.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira is the latest high-profile UFC fighter to be removed from an event poster.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has withdrawn from his co-headlining light heavyweight contest against Brandon Vera at UFC 109 on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas due to injury, Sherdog.com has learned from multiple sources.

Nogueira, the brother of former UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, suffered a fractured ankle, said both sources. Nogueira’s manager, Ed Soares, could not be initially reached to confirm the injury.

Very disappointing news for not only Nogueira fans, but also for Lil Nog himself. He made a huge splash in the UFC with a big win over a very hyped Luiz Cane only to lose all his momentum to a pretty serious injury.

No word yet on who will replace him against Brandon Vera.

Image via Sherdog

Update: Assuming this isn’t a fake Twitter account, Brandon Vera says he’s fighting Jon Jones on March 27. Via BE:

just found out I’m fighting Jon Bones Jones on March 21st in Denver Colorado. hope u heard it here first!!!!

What’s odd about this is there’s no UFC event currently scheduled or rumored for March 21 and you would think they would just keep him at UFC 109, so maybe it is a fake Twitter account or there was some miscommunication. I’ll keep you posted. Jon Jones would make a damn fine replacement though if it turns out to be true.

Update 2: It looks like that was indeed Vera and his information is legit, he just messed up the date.

MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) has learned from sources close to the organization that the UFC is targeting Vera for a potential headlining contest against Jon Jones (9-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) at an as-yet-unannounced UFC Fight Night 21 event on March 31 in Denver, Colo.

Tickets for UFC 109 are set to go on sale later this week.

UFC 109 “Relentless” is scheduled to take place at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on Saturday, February 6. The card will be headlined by a light heavyweight contest between UFC hall-of-famers Randy Couture and Mark Coleman. Also announced today, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, coming off his big win over Luiz Cane at UFC 106, will return to action against Brandon Vera. Josh Koscheck vs. Paulo Thiago II, Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen and Frank Trigg vs. Matt Serra round out the main card.

Ticket info below.

• UFC Fight Club Presale: Thursday, December 10 at 10AM PT
• UFC Newsletter Presale: Friday, December 11 at 10AM PT
• Public On-Sale Date: Saturday, December 12 at 10AM PT

Tickets can be purchased through Ticketmaster.com and Stubhub. Stubhub is a secondary ticket market where you can find the hard-to-find seats even when the event is “sold-out.”

The latest UFC 109 fight card and event info can be found in our fight cards section.

“Now there are lots of good guys in that division, including Brazilians, that are showing their strength, like Thiago Silva, Lyoto, myself, there are a lot of strong guys in the division, the Americans as well, like Jardine, Evans, the category is very strong. I hope that the Brazilians dominate the division. God willing, it will happen…I would like to have the fight with Shogun again. Shogun is a great fighter, a great champion and he was in the best stage of his career till today. He has his merits, at the end of the fight I tried to take his back… If I had finished the fight there at his back, I would have been able to change the story of the fight.”

—Antonio Rogerio Nogueira expressing his desire for a rematch with Mauricio “Shogun” Rua

Lil’ Nog and Shogun went to war at PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 in the quarterfinals of the PRIDE 2005 MWGP that Shogun eventually went on to win. It was a great fight, the type that begs for a rematch down the road. Who knows, if Shogun beats Machida and Lil’ Nog wins one or two more, perhaps we’ll see Shogun vs Nogueira II for the UFC light heavyweight title in late 2010. It wouldn’t get much better than that.

The NSAC has released the fighter payouts for UFC 106. Keep in mind, these figures represent the base contracted pay the fighter receives from the promotion. These figures do not include any additional “locker room” bonuses, pay-per-view revenue sharing, or sponsorship money, which in many cases exceeds a fighter’s base pay. These numbers also do not account for taxes, insurance, and license fees.

Fanhouse’s Ariel Helwani interviews Dana White, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira, Josh Koscheck, Amir Sadollah, George Sotiropoulos and Kendall Grove following UFC 106.

UFC 106 took place earlier this evening at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada.

In the night’s main event, Tito Ortiz returned to the UFC in a rematch against Forrest Griffin.

Anthony Johnson and Josh Koscheck stepped up on short notice to take each other on in a welterweight match-up.

Antonio Rogerio Nogueira made his UFC debut against Luiz Cane.

Phil Baroni returned to the UFC to take on TUF 7 champ Amir Sadollah.

Paulo Thiago and Jacob Volkmann met in a welterweight contest.

Results, thoughts, bonuses and live gate (when available) after the jump.