Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a heavyweight legend looking to climb to the top of the mountain one more time following his win over Hall of Famer Randy Couture in August. Unbeaten rising star Cain Velasquez has moved rapidly up the ranks, but he needs one more win to get a shot at the belt. On Saturday, January 2nd, the main event of UFC 108 will see these two heavyweight standouts meet to determine a future challenger for the title. Also, former UFC light heavyweight champion ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans begins on his road back to the title as he attempts to avenge his teammate Keith Jardine’s loss against Brazilian knockout artist Thiago Silva at UFC 108: Nogueira vs Velasquez, presented by “Bayonetta” and live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
“Nogueira vs. Velasquez is a great matchup between the present and the future of the heavyweight division,” said UFC President Dana White. “Nogueira showed in the Couture fight that he still has plenty left to offer at the top level of the game, and Velasquez was devastating in his win over Ben Rothwell, so with both guys in top form, we’re definitely going to see a number one contender emerge from this fight to take on the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin title fight.”
Tickets for UFC 108 are priced at $600, $400, $300, $200, $100 and $50, not including applicable service charges, go on sale Saturday, November 14 at 10 a.m. at all Las Vegas Ticketmaster locations (select Smith’s Food and Drug Centers and Ritmo Latino). Ticket sales are limited to eight (8) per person. To charge by phone with a major credit card, call Ticketmaster at (800) 745-3000. Tickets also are available for purchase at UFC.com, www.mgmgrand.com or www.ticketmaster.com.
UFC® Fight Club™ members will have the opportunity to purchase tickets to this event Thursday, November 12 at 10 a.m. PT via the website UFC.com. A special Internet ticket pre-sale will be available to UFC newsletter subscribers Friday, November 13 starting at 10 a.m. PT. To access this presale, users must register for the UFC newsletter through UFC.com.
UFC 108 will be available live on pay-per-view on iN DEMAND, DIRECTV, DISH Network, TVN, BellTV, Shaw Communications and Viewer’s Choice Canada for a suggested retail price of $44.95 for standard definition or high-definition broadcasts (where available).
One of the sport’s legendary heavyweights, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (fighting out of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil) always seems to fight his way back into the title picture. With an outstanding 32-5-1, 1 NC record that includes wins in three of his first four UFC fights, the 33-year-old parlayed a unanimous decision victory against Heath Herring into a UFC interim heavyweight title shot where he submitted former UFC champion Tim Sylvia. At UFC 102 in Portland, Nogueira earned an exciting unanimous decision victory over hometown favorite and UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture. But now the only man to hold UFC and PRIDE heavyweight championship belts looks to stop the ascension of the sport’s newest rising star.
“I’m very excited to face an up-and-coming fighter such as Cain Velasquez,” Nogueira said. “I’m looking to get right back in the title picture. It will be interesting coming off that great win against a legend such as Randy Couture to now face a fighter who’s at the beginning of a promising career and who’s looking for that same success.”
Fresh off his dominating TKO victory against respected contender Ben Rothwell at UFC 104 in October, Cain Velasquez (fighting out of San Jose, Calif.) remains perfect in the UFC and has inched that much closer to a UFC heavyweight title shot. With only one fight going the distance, a unanimous decision victory over Cheick Kongo at UFC 99, the former two-time NCAA All-American wrestler from Arizona State has finished each of his other UFC opponents within two rounds. And as the owner of a professional MMA record of 7-0, it’s clear that there are very few heavyweights that can match Velasquez’s quickness or stop his takedowns.
“I am excited to fight a legend like Nogueira. He’s one of the fighters I watched growing up and admired – he’s definitely one of the greats, and a win over him is what I need to set me up for my shot at the title,” said Velasquez. “I have a lot respect for Noguiera and look forward to facing him in the Octagon.”
Ready to get his UFC light heavyweight title back, Rashad Evans (fighting out of Albuquerque, N.M.) has notched wins over some big names in the division, including consecutive knockout victories over Chuck Liddell and then champion Forrest Griffin. The Niagara Falls, New York native and former Michigan State University wrestler has won 18 of his 20 pro fights, including a draw against former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz. A skilled grappler that has tremendous knockout power, Evans will need all of his well-rounded abilities when he takes on Thiago Silva, the man who knocked out his teammate and training partner Keith Jardine.
“Thiago’s a hard puncher and a very good fighter, and I respect him,” said Evans. “But I’d be lying if I said that I didn’t want to get a little payback for Keith on January 2nd. This is gonna be a great fight for the fans, but I think I’ve got too many tools for Silva to deal with.”
A Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt that can get the knockout as easy as the tap out, Thiago Silva (fighting out of Sao Paulo, Brazil) has won 14 of his first 15 pro fights. His 95 second KO victory over Jardine at UFC 102 was his fifth win in the UFC, with four coming via KO/TKO and one by submission. The 26-year-old has put away his opponents within two rounds in all of his UFC wins and he looks to throw his name in the UFC title contention hat with a win over former world titleholder Rashad Evans.
“Rashad Evans is a former UFC champion and one of the best light heavyweights in the world,” said Silva. “But he’s never faced a fighter like me, and once I hit him, I have no doubt that a victory is going to follow for me soon after.”
For more information, or current UFC fight news, visit UFC.com, UK.UFC.com, GERMANY.UFC.com, UFCJapan.jp or UFCEspanol.com. All bouts live and subject to change.
About The Ultimate Fighting Championship®
UFC is the largest live pay-per-view event content provider in the world and the fastest growing main stream sports organization in history. Owned and operated by Zuffa™, LLC, and headquartered in Las Vegas, Nev., UFC® produces over twelve live pay-per-view events annually that are distributed residentially through North American cable and satellite providers including iNDEMAND Networks, DIRECTV, DISH Network, Avail-TVN Entertainment, BellTV, SaskTel Max™, Shaw Pay-Per-View, and Viewers Choice. International distributors include WOWOW in Japan, Rede TV and Globosat’s Combate Channel and SporTV in Brazil, ESPN in United Kingdom, Televisa in Mexico and throughout Central America, with worldwide distribution via the Internet on UFC.com and Yahoo! Sports. UFC content is distributed commercially through Joe Hand Promotions in the U.S. and Canadastar in Canada. UFC programming is distributed in 132 countries, territories and jurisdictions, reaching 430 million homes worldwide, in 20 different languages.
Ultimate Fighting Championship®, Ultimate Fighting®, UFC®, The Ultimate Fighter®, Submission®, As Real As It Gets®, Zuffa® , The Octagon™ and the eight-sided competition mat and cage design are registered trademarks, registered service marks, trademarks, trade dress and/or service marks owned exclusively by Zuffa, LLC and licensed to its affiliated entities and other licensees in the United States and other jurisdictions. All other marks referenced herein may be the property of Zuffa, LLC, its affiliates or other respective owners.
Source: http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=25255
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According to Yahoo Sports, Brock Lesnar has been forced to withdraw from his title defense against Shane Carwin at UFC 106. According to Dana White, Lesnar had been sick for 3 and-a-half weeks with the flu and has been unable to train. Since he would no longer be at his best for the Nov.21 fight in Las Vegas, he decided to postpone it.
Despite Carwin calling out Lesnar for his past several times during the build to the big matchup according to FightLine, he had no criticism for Brock when asked about the situation. “My heart just sank, as you can imagine,” Carwin said. “Hopefully, we'll get it rescheduled soon.”
Carwin also said on his twitter, “I had H1N1 myself and I understand how devastating it can be”. (It should be noted that White said that they don't think Lesnar has the swine flu). Carwin also confirmed on his twitter that the fight would be reschedules for January 2nd, which is UFC 108, a card that already features Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva, Gabriel Gonzaga vs. Junior dos Santos, and Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller.
While UFC 108 looks to be in good shape, this leaves UFC 106 without its main event. UFC's website has already moved the original co-main event, Tito Ortiz vs. Forrest Griffin to the main event slot, and is now billing UFC 106 as “Ortiz vs. Griffin 2″. This still leaves the card as a whole a bit lacking on starpower, but according to MMAJunkie, there is a chance that Antonio Nogueira vs. Luis Cane will be added to the card, which should give the card some much needed star power with Brock Lesnar out. Eitherway, Lesnar is proven to seriously boost buyrates, so there is almost no chance that UFC 106 now does as well financially as it was originally expect to, though that financial success should now transfer over to UFC 108.
Now the big hope for every UFC fan is that Lesnar gets over his bout with the flu quickly so the fight isn't postponed again, and so that Lesnar can be 100% for his high profile title defense.
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