Former UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion and ex-PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has agreed to face five-time UFC Champion and Hall of Famer Randy Couture in an epic match-up at UFC 101 in August, according to MMAWeekly.com.
The report does not provide a date for the event; however, it indicates that UFC 101 is tentatively scheduled to take place in Portland, Oregon.
"The Natural" was first to agree to the proposed face-off late last week. Now it appears that "Minotauro" is following his lead and finally giving MMA fans what they want.
This, of course, is the dream match-up that most fans expected to see on May 23 before Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir played spoiler roles in the opening round of the mini heavyweight tournament created in late 2008 to crown an undisputed division champion.
Couture recently indicated that he was interested in a fight against Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic when the promotion storms the Lanxess Arena in Cologne, Germany, for UFC 99 on June 13. However, he apparently did not have enough time to prepare because he will be on a movie set alongside action stars Jet Li, Jason Statham and Dolph Lundgren in Sylvester Stallone’s upcoming action flick "The Expendables."
This is not the first time that Couture has been offered a fight with "Big Nog." He balked at the opportunity while he was in a contract dispute with the promotion for most of 2008, saying the fight that he wanted most was one against WAMMA deity Fedor Emelianenko.
Now that he is coming off surgery and another movie role, UFC 101 could finally be the event that brings the former kings together.
Stay tuned for more on this developing story.
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