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Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a heavyweight legend looking to climb to the top of the mountain one more time following his win over Hall of Famer Randy Couture in August. Unbeaten rising star Cain Velasquez has moved rapidly up the ranks, but he needs one more win to get a shot at the belt. On Saturday, January 2nd, the main event of UFC 108 will see these two heavyweight standouts meet to determine a future challenger for the title. Also, former UFC light heavyweight champion ‘Suga’ Rashad Evans begins on his road back to the title as he attempts to avenge his teammate Keith Jardine’s loss against Brazilian knockout artist Thiago Silva at UFC 108: Nogueira vs Velasquez, presented by “Bayonetta” and live on pay-per-view from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.

“Nogueira vs. Velasquez is a great matchup between the present and the future of the heavyweight division,” said UFC President Dana White. “Nogueira showed in the Couture fight that he still has plenty left to offer at the top level of the game, and Velasquez was devastating in his win over Ben Rothwell, so with both guys in top form, we’re definitely going to see a number one contender emerge from this fight to take on the winner of the Brock Lesnar vs Shane Carwin title fight.”

“Nogueira vs. Velasquez is a great matchup between the present and the future of the heavyweight division,” said UFC President Dana White.

Can't argue with this statement.

Well ring another one up for Staph:

Nogueira and Cain Velasquez were scheduled to meet in the latest attempt at a Jan. 2 main event for UFC 108, but company president Dana White, according to a report on Sherdog.com, on Saturday night revealed that Nogueira had to withdraw due to a recurring staph infection.

Nogueira vs. Velasquez is the third attempt to declare a headline bout for UFC 108. Middleweight champion Anderson Silva, due to elbow surgery, was unable to defend his title against Vitor Belfort on the New Year’s card. An attempt to reschedule heavyweight champ Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin for Jan. 2 was aborted due Lesnar’s continued illness.

“Yeah, Rodrigo’s got a pretty bad case of staph,” Nogueira’s manager, Ed Soares, told MMAWeekly.com on Saturday night.

“There is no way that he could be prepared in time to face a fighter the caliber of Cain Velasquez.”

Soares said that Nogueira could possibly make a return to training in about three weeks or so, but he stressed that is “the absolute best case scenario” according the former champion’s doctor. That would leave him little time to prepare.

Nogueira has had staph before, most notably prior to his bout with Frank Mir. Nogueira, his timing off and looking sluggish, lost his interim heavyweight championship to Mir in a second round TKO, the first time in his career he has been finished. He doesn’t intend to make that mistake again.

“At the end of the day, nobody cares about excuses,” said Soares.

http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/tem ... &zoneid=13

Staph, staph, staph

WTF