8 Bouts Booked for UFC 134 in Brazil
Brian Knapp Jun 23, 2011
Mauricio
“Shogun” Rua will meet fellow former light heavyweight champion
Forrest
Griffin for the second time in the UFC
134 “Silva vs. Okami” co-headliner on Aug. 27 at the HSBC Arena
in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Eight bouts are now official for the
event, which will air live on pay-per-view.
The two men faced one another in 2007, as Griffin spoiled Rua’s promotional debut and submitted the Brazilian with a rear-naked choke at UFC 76.
Rua (19-5, 3-3 UFC) last appeared at UFC
128 in March, when he surrendered the light heavyweight crown
to Jon
Jones in a third-round technical knockout at the Prudential
Center in Newark, N.J. The 2005
Pride Fighting Championships middleweight grand prix winner has
never lost back-to-back fights. Rua (Pictured; file photo) -- who
has returned to training under former
Chute Boxe Academy mentor Rafael
Cordeiro at
Kings MMA in California -- has secured 16 of his 19
professional victories by knockout, TKO or submission. Wins over
former
UFC champions Lyoto
Machida, Mark Coleman,
Chuck
Liddell and Quinton
“Rampage” Jackson, reigning Strikeforce
heavyweight champion Alistair
Overeem (twice) and fellow Pride veteran Antonio
Rogerio Nogueira highlight his stellar resume.
Anchored at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Griffin (18-6, 9-4 UFC) will carry a two-fight winning streak into the match. The 31-year-old Columbus, Ohio, native last fought at UFC 126 in February, when he outdueled former middleweight champion Rich Franklin en route to a unanimous decision at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. In addition to wins over Jackson and Rua, Griffin has also beaten former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, onetime UFC middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen and American Top Team’s Jeff Monson. He burst on the global scene in 2005, when he won Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 NC, 3-2 UFC) last competed at UFC 110 in February 2010, when he succumbed to first-round punches from the undefeated Cain Velasquez at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia. Eight months later, Velasquez was UFC heavyweight champion. Nogueira has since undergone knee and hip surgeries to correct nagging injuries. One of the sport’s most durable fighters, the 35-year-old has only been finished twice in 40 professional outings. Nogueira holds notable wins over reigning Strikeforce light heavyweight kingpin Dan Henderson, 2006 Pride open weight grand prix winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, four-time K-1 World Grand Prix winner Semmy Schilt and former UFC champions Randy Couture, Josh Barnett, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman and Ricco Rodriguez. A black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he has secured more than half (20) of his 32 victories by submission.
Based at the Grudge Training Center, Schaub (8-1, 4-1 UFC) has pieced together a four-fight winning streak. He has not set foot inside the Octagon since March, when he scored a third-round knockout over Filipovic at UFC 128. One of the heavyweight division’s most athletic competitors, the 6-foot-4, 238-pound Schaub played college football at the University of Colorado and enjoyed brief stints in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and in the Arena Football League with the Utah Blaze. The 28-year-old owns six first-round finishes on his resume.
UFC 134 will mark the promotion’s first trip to Brazil in more than a decade. The event will feature a middleweight title bout between longtime champion Anderson Silva and world-ranked challenger Yushin Okami. The 29-year-old Okami defeated Silva by disqualification at a Rumble on the Rock show in 2006. Silva has 14 consecutive fights since.
UFC 134 “Silva vs. Okami”
Saturday, Aug. 27
HSBC Arena
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
UFC Middleweight Championship
Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Forrest Griffin
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub
Ross Pearson vs. Edson Mendes Barboza Jr.
Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher
Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell
Mike Swick vs. Erick Silva
* Yuri Alcantara vs. Antonio Carvalho
* Ian Loveland vs. Yves Jabouin
* Not Official
The two men faced one another in 2007, as Griffin spoiled Rua’s promotional debut and submitted the Brazilian with a rear-naked choke at UFC 76.
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Anchored at Xtreme Couture Mixed Martial Arts in Las Vegas, Griffin (18-6, 9-4 UFC) will carry a two-fight winning streak into the match. The 31-year-old Columbus, Ohio, native last fought at UFC 126 in February, when he outdueled former middleweight champion Rich Franklin en route to a unanimous decision at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. In addition to wins over Jackson and Rua, Griffin has also beaten former UFC light heavyweight champion Tito Ortiz, onetime UFC middleweight title contender Chael Sonnen and American Top Team’s Jeff Monson. He burst on the global scene in 2005, when he won Season 1 of “The Ultimate Fighter.”
Meanwhile, former Pride titleholder Antonio
Rodrigo Nogueira will make his first Octagon appearance in more
than a year when he collides with “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10
finalist Brendan
Schaub in a heavyweight showcase.
Nogueira (32-6-1, 1 NC, 3-2 UFC) last competed at UFC 110 in February 2010, when he succumbed to first-round punches from the undefeated Cain Velasquez at the Acer Arena in Sydney, Australia. Eight months later, Velasquez was UFC heavyweight champion. Nogueira has since undergone knee and hip surgeries to correct nagging injuries. One of the sport’s most durable fighters, the 35-year-old has only been finished twice in 40 professional outings. Nogueira holds notable wins over reigning Strikeforce light heavyweight kingpin Dan Henderson, 2006 Pride open weight grand prix winner Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, four-time K-1 World Grand Prix winner Semmy Schilt and former UFC champions Randy Couture, Josh Barnett, Tim Sylvia, Mark Coleman and Ricco Rodriguez. A black belt in judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, he has secured more than half (20) of his 32 victories by submission.
Based at the Grudge Training Center, Schaub (8-1, 4-1 UFC) has pieced together a four-fight winning streak. He has not set foot inside the Octagon since March, when he scored a third-round knockout over Filipovic at UFC 128. One of the heavyweight division’s most athletic competitors, the 6-foot-4, 238-pound Schaub played college football at the University of Colorado and enjoyed brief stints in the NFL with the Buffalo Bills and in the Arena Football League with the Utah Blaze. The 28-year-old owns six first-round finishes on his resume.
UFC 134 will mark the promotion’s first trip to Brazil in more than a decade. The event will feature a middleweight title bout between longtime champion Anderson Silva and world-ranked challenger Yushin Okami. The 29-year-old Okami defeated Silva by disqualification at a Rumble on the Rock show in 2006. Silva has 14 consecutive fights since.
UFC 134 “Silva vs. Okami”
Saturday, Aug. 27
HSBC Arena
Rio de Janeiro, Brazil
UFC Middleweight Championship
Anderson Silva vs. Yushin Okami
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua vs. Forrest Griffin
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Brendan Schaub
Ross Pearson vs. Edson Mendes Barboza Jr.
Luiz Cane vs. Stanislav Nedkov
Thiago Tavares vs. Spencer Fisher
Paulo Thiago vs. David Mitchell
Mike Swick vs. Erick Silva
* Yuri Alcantara vs. Antonio Carvalho
* Ian Loveland vs. Yves Jabouin
* Not Official
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