Nogueria-Mir Rematch to Headline UFC 119

Former heavyweight champions Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Frank Mir have verbally agreed to headline the yet-to-be-announced UFC 119 on Sept. 25 at Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Ind., Sherdog.com has learned.

MMAFighting.com was the first to report the main-event rematch on Thursday.

Nogueira, who once ruled Pride Fighting Championships’ marquee division in Japan, meets Mir in his 41st career bout. The 33-year-old Brazilian legend suffered a first-round TKO loss to Cain Velasquez at UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia, after notching a unanimous decision over contemporary Randy Couture at UFC 102 last August. After Nogueira’s loss to Mir at UFC 92 in December 2008, it was revealed the Brazilian was suffering through a staph infection at the time.

Mir’s second-round technical knockout against Nogueira earned him the UFC interim heavyweight title. The 31-year-old Las Vegas native fought UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar a second time to unify the titles at UFC 100 in July 2009; Lesnar emerged the winner via a second-round stoppage from strikes. Following a dynamic first-round win over Cheick Kongo, Mir again fought for an interim championship against Shane Carwin at UFC 111 in March, but succumbed to punches in the first round.

Mir won the vacant UFC heavyweight championship at UFC 48 in June 2004, breaking Tim Sylvia’s arm with a slick 50-second armbar submission. Following a life-threatening motorcycle accident later that year, Mir was stripped of the title. The father of four made an unlikely return to fighting nearly two years later.