Mir-Nogueira 2 Ticketed for UFC 140 in Toronto

UFC 140 just got a major dose of talent, as promotion officials Wednesday announced that former heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will lock horns at the Dec. 10 event.

Going down at the Air Canada Centre in Toronto, the event will also feature a pair of welterweight confrontations, as Rory MacDonald squares off with Brian Ebersole while Rich Attonito meets Claude Patrick. UFC 140 is expected to air live on pay-per-view.

Mir has won back-to-back contests heading into his rematch with Nogueira. The pair originally met at UFC 92 in 2008, with Mir notching a dramatic, second-round knockout over the Brazilian to capture the promotion’s interim heavyweight championship. Mir would fail to unify the title in his next outing, however, falling in devastating fashion to Brock Lesnar.

The 32-year-old rebounded with a submission victory over Cheick Kongo in December 2009 before falling by knockout to Shane Carwin the following March. Most recently, Mir earned a knockout victory over Mirko Filipovic at UFC 119 to close out 2010, and then impressed with a one-sided unanimous decision win over former IFL ace Roy Nelson at UFC 130 on May 28.

The only man to hold both the Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight title and the UFC interim heavyweight title, Nogueira has had his ups and downs inside the Octagon. Following his aforementioned knockout at the hands of Mir, “Minotauro” outpointed Randy Couture at UFC 102 before being knocked out by future heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 110 in February 2010.

Nogueira’s last Octagon appearance came at UFC 134, where he returned from knee and hip surgery to knock out young buck Brendan Schaub in the first round of their Aug. 27 clash at HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. The win marked Nogueira’s first fight back following an 18 month layoff.


source:Sherdog