UFC 119: The Battle of the Nogs

Both of the Nogueira brothers will be in action in potentially make or break fights at UFC 119. Big Nog, Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira, will be headlining the card in a rematch with Frank Mir. Little Nog, Antônio Rogério Nogueira, will be up against unbeaten TUF 8 winner Ryan Bader.

It promises to be a pivotal moment in the careers of both of the Brazilian brothers. Big Nog, who is often referred to as Minotauro to distinguish him from his brother, is only 34 but has taken more punishment in his career than arguably any other fighter in the entire sport.

It would be a surprise if he were able to continue to fight at an elite level for too much longer, and the UFC will be keeping a very close eye on him. There is nothing more inspiring than the sight of coming from behind to secure a submission win as he did against Tim Sylvia but watching him take a beating can make for distinctly uncomfortable viewing.

Unless he can recapture his winning form against Frank Mir I suspect his appearances in the Octagon will start to become fewer and farther between.

Despite their identical ages the careers of these two brothers appeared to be heading in opposite trajectories when Little Nog secured a first round stoppage win over Luis Cane on his UFC debut and Big Nog was knocked out in the opening round by Cain Velasquez a few months later.

With an MMA record of 19-3, the smaller of the Nogueira brothers could conceivably have his best days ahead of him. With a career record of 32-6-1, Big Nog, by contrast, is unlikely to ever recapture the form which saw him win five fights out of five as the reigning Pride Heavyweight Champion in 2002.

Little Nog suffered a major setback in his second UFC outing when he was expected to easily overcome the challenge of late replacement Jason Brilz. The Brazilian got the benefit of a highly dubious split decision which very few viewers agreed with. Little Nog might have gotten the win but Brilz was the only man to emerge with any credit from that particular fight.

Little Nog will be looking to show that he is a force to be reckoned with in the increasingly competitive light heavyweight division when he takes on Ryan Bader at UFC 119. Bader was actually a member of Team Nogueira on TUF 8 and Big Nog will know all about Bader from his time as a coach on this season and will doubtless have helped his brother formulate a game plan.

If Little Nog shows the same kind of form which he did against Luis Cane he will be well on his way to a title shot of some description, with an interim title likely to be on the line before too long given the long term injury to Mauricio "Shogun" Rua.

If he struggles against Bader, then the victory over Cane could be seen as the exception rather than the norm and questions over the legitimacy of his victory against Brilz are bound to resurface.

Big Nog was recovering from a debilitating staph infection when he was surprisingly outboxed by Mir the first time these two heavyweights met. Assuming he is in good health, he will be confident of putting in a more impressive performance second time round.

Both men are coming off damaging losses, Big Nog to Velasquez and Mir to Shane Carwin, and while neither is likely to be cut anytime soon they will both feel they are fighting for their UFC futures. The Noguiera brothers are effectively MMA royalty, but their performances at UFC 119 will go a long way toward deciding how many more times we see either of them inside the cage.