Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will fight Pat Cummins in Brazil on May 14th at the event currently known as UFC Fight Night 88.
We say ‘currently known’ as rumors suggest that UFC Fight Night 88 may well be amended to become UFC 198 instead as the promotion looks to get their fight calendar in order prior to UFC 200 in July after recently making the decision to cancel the original UFC 196: Werdum Vs Velasquez II event.
The 39 year-old Nogueira comes into this fight off the back of two consecutive losses in the Octagon, having been KO’d by Anthony Johnson back in July of 2014, and then losing out by unanimous decision to Mauricio ‘Shogun’ Rua after returning in August of the following year.
The injury-prone Nogueira is barely fighting once a year at this stage in his career, so a win over Cummins will be important for him if he’s to prove that he still has what it takes to hold down his top 10 spot on the light-heavyweight rankings as he approaches his 40th birthday in June.
As for Cummins, he’s looking to bounce back after a TKO loss to Glover Teixeira in November of last year. That was his second loss in three fights, having also been KO’d by Ovince St. Preux in 2015, though inbetween times he did stop Rafael ‘Feijao’ by TKO.
While it’s not confirmed yet, if UFC Fight Night 88 does switch to become UFC 198 then the rumor is that Fabricio Werdum may defend his heavyweight title against Stipe Miocic in the main event, leaving Vitor Belfort to fight Ronaldo ‘Jacare’ Souza in the co-main event of the evening. Again it has to be stressed this is just speculation for the time being though.
