Rashad Evans reported to face Lil Nog in Super Bowl weekend event
Posted on October 24, 2012, 12:03 PM by Mike DrahotaToday, exciting news comes for the fans of the UFC's Light Heavyweight division as Brazilian media outlet SporTV has reported that former champion Rashad Evans has verbally agreed to face Antonio Rogerio “Lil Nog” Nogueira at a Super Bowl weekend card. Evans had recently been speculating on just whom his next bout would feature, and had stated that a rematch with Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida was something he was very interested in.
Evans was also rumored to be making the cut down to Middleweight in order to face champion Anderson Silva, but with Silva reportedly facing two huge superfights, talk of that bout has subsided. Evans is in sort of an odd spot right now, as he has shown the skills and abilities to best most fighters at 205, yet looked like he was quite far away from wresting the belt out of Jon Jones' hands back in April at UFC 145. Still, he took the champ the whole distance and has stated that another fight with Jones could be in the works for the future.
Evans will have to keep winning to do so, and it appears that Nogueira will be the roadblock on the way towards a title shot. Last seen dismantling Tito Ortiz with a brutal series of elbows to the body, Nogueira has been plagued by injuries, one of them forcing him to withdraw from a bout with surging contender Alexander Gustafsson earlier this year. He has also been quite vulnerable to high-level wrestlers, losing decisions to Phil Davis and Ryan Bader while winning a highly controversial split decision against Jason Brilz. Still, he has never been submitted and has only been knocked out once, proving that he is a very hard man to put away.
The fight will be tentatively set for UFC 156, and the Super Bowl weekend events are traditionally huge cards. Stay tuned to LowKick.com for more news and announcements for UFC 156 as they arise.
Comments
Love him or hate him, Rashad is slick. He's got too much movement and the drive of a contender, realistically Lil Nog must know he is not a title contender - different mindsets - different fighters - A win to Rashad.
hes also got swagger
Unexpected yet great matchup here. Will be fun to find out who has the better hands.
If Nog has the advantage in striking and has increased his already excellent TDD, this could be an upset in the making
Interesting fight for sure, but remember Phil Davis took Lil Nog down when he switched his strategy to single legs, and Rashad showed Phil Davis who was boss. I think only the best Rogerio we have ever seen can beat a healthy and motivated Rashad Evans.
@Mike true true the thing is Rashad is mainly a double leg kind of wrestler so interested to see how he goes for the takedown
Jason Brilz, Phil Davis, and Ryan Bader would disagree about the "excellent" take down defense.
Lil' Nog will spend the night on his back eating elbows and fists, game over.
This one shouldn't be much trouble for Rashad. Nog's take down defense was never great, but it has seemed to decline since entering the UFC.
Unless Rashad stands with Nog recklessly (ala Machida), or gets caught on the ground he should win this handily.
Rashad via decision. Too dangerous to stand and trade with. He will be in Nogueria's guard all night.
Ya I don't see Little Nog winning this - Rashad is a game fighter - very competitive .
I must admit Nog winning would be in some way cool seeing the brothers get back to back wins.
Maybe that's just because I have a soft spot for the old fighters - I always want to believe they have one more run in them, I'll even admit I got hopeful for Tito when he managed to beat Badar - we all knew it wasn't going far yet we wanted to believe.
I give the odds to Rashad but for whatever (maybe Cinderella man story or something) kind of hope Nog gets him somehow.
Chance of a lifetime for Lil Nog to get in real title contention.......having said that.....Rashad by UD.
Many people are already not giving Lil Nog a chance, but interestingly, he actually finished Tito in less than half the time it took Rashad to. Even though we all know theres no such thing as "MMA Math", If Lil' Nog can avoid the takedowns and land some good shots, he has as much as a winner's chance in this as Rashad does.
I still think Rashad would be better off going to 185.
You can't ever underestimate a Nogueira Brother, but Evans winning doesn't change the fact that he would still be at least 1-2 fights away from another shot at Bones.
It looks like Silva might actually fight GSP, but I have my doubts about the Jones match ever happening.
Rashad takes out a top guy at 185, give him the Spider.
With Sonnen getting a shot even Tank Abbott is only one win away from a shot at Jones.
I wish Evans would cut down to fight Silva he is a small LHW and it's testament to his skills he is top 3 in the division. He'd be a great test for Silva. I know many are happy seeing one of the best fighters ever taking easy fights and avoiding the best out there but Evans is a happy medium in this respect.