As a result of a hip injury, former PRIDE and UFC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira has been forced to withdraw from his upcoming main event rematch with Frank Mir at UFC 119. Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović is expected to take Nogueira’s place in the fight.
Fighters Only was first to report on the change in combatants, though Filipović’s participation has not been officially announced. MMAjunkie.com was first to disclose the nature of Nogueira’s injury. Filipović has won three of his last four fights inside the Octagon and sports a 4-3 UFC record.
Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 NC) and Mir (13-5-0) first squared off at UFC 92 late in 2008, with Mir emerging victorious via second-round TKO. The fight marked the first time that Nogueira had ever been stopped in his career, though it was later revealed that he entered the bout with a knee injury and a bad staph infection. With both Mir and Nogueira coming off of knockout losses, the UFC 119 rematch served as a chance for both fighters to get their careers back on track in the UFC’s heavyweight division, but the rematch will now have to wait.
Filipović (27-7-2, 1 NC), the 2006 PRIDE Open Weight Grand Prix Champion, made his long-awaited UFC debut at UFC 67 in February of 2007, but met with mixed success in the Octagon. Back-to-back losses to Gabriel “Napão” Gonzaga and Cheick Kongo forced Filipović to regroup and he returned to Japan for a trio of fights that saw him go 2-0 with one no contest. A lacklustre UFC victory over Mostapha Al-Turk and a one-sided loss to Junior “Cigano” dos Santos did little to ease fears that Filipović’s best days were behind him, but he has since battled back strong.
Showing a side that most UFC fans had never seen before, Filipović was joking and smiling leading up to his UFC 115 bout with fellow kickboxer Pat “HD” Barry and seemed at ease for the first time in many years. He rallied from early knockdowns against Barry and wound up submitting him late in the third round in what was an incredible battle. Fans showered Filipović with cheers and that performance may have earned him another main event slot against Mir. With all five of Mir’s losses coming by way of knockout, Filipović should have a significant edge on the feet, but Mir’s ground game is top-notch.
UFC 119 takes place on September 25th at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana.
UFC 119 Fight Card (subject to change):
– Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipović vs Frank Mir (*)
– Antonio Rogerio “Minotoro” Nogueira vs Ryan “Darth” Bader
– Chris “Lights Out” Lytle vs Matt “The Terror” Serra
– Evan Dunham vs Sean “The Muscle Shark” Sherk
– Melvin “The Young Assassin” Guillard vs Jeremy “Lil’ Heathen” Stephens
– C.B. “The Doberman” Dollaway vs Joe “El Dirte” Doerksen
– Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran vs Matt Mitrione
– Steve Lopez vs Waylon Lowe
– T.J. Grant vs Julio Paulino
– Mark Hunt vs Sean McCorkle
– Pat “Awesomely Awesome” Audinwood vs Aaron Riley (*)
*Not yet officially announced.