Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and
Brandon Vera will meet in a light heavyweight contest at
UFC 109 on Feb. 6 in Las Vegas, the promotion announced on Tuesday.
Nogueria, the brother of former UFC interim heavyweight champion
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, debuted strong for the promotion with a first-round technical knockout against
Luis Arthur Cane at UFC 106 on Nov. 21 in Las Vegas. The 33-year-old Nogueria has won six consecutive bouts, his last loss a 23-second knockout at the hands of
Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou at Pride 33 in February 2007.
Vera lost a unanimous decision to UFC hall of famer
Randy Couture at UFC 105 on Nov. 14 in Manchester, England. The 32-year-old kickboxer had clocked in victories in the Octagon against
Krzysztof Soszynski and
Michael Patt before that.
Both Nogueria and his brother have trained with Vera at his Alliance MMA Training Center in Chula Vista, Calif. Most recently, Nogueria spent three weeks with Vera in preparation for his Cane bout. The Brazilian brothers had planned to spend a part of both their next training camps again with Vera and his team prior to this matchup, said Alliance coach Eric DelFierro. DelFierro said he was unsure how the new matchup would affect those schedules.
In a welterweight matchup, former UFC champion
Matt Serra will face
Frank Trigg. Serra, a winner of “The Ultimate Fighter 4,” dropped a unanimous decision to
Matt Hughes in their rematch at UFC 98 last May after a year layoff due to elbow surgery.
The 37-year-old Trigg, who once challenged for the UFC welterweight championship, has competed on the sport’s world circuit, splitting his time with color commentating for Pride Fighting Championships and others. Trigg rode a four-fight win streak into his Octagon return at UFC 103 last September, but was caught by an eager
Josh Koscheck in the first round.
Also announced for UFC 109, top-ranked middleweight
Nate Marquardt will meet one-time U.S. Olympic wrestling alternate
Chael Sonnen, and welterweights
Josh Koscheck and
Paulo Thiago will rematch their February bout at UFC 95 in London. Thiago caught Koscheck with strikes for the first-round technical knockout.
In the main event, heavyweights
Randy Couture and
Mark Coleman will face off in the first-ever bout between UFC hall of famers.
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