Rashad Evans reported to face Lil Nog in Super Bowl weekend event
Today, exciting news comes for the fans of the UFC’s Light Heavyweight division as Brazilian media outlet SporTV has reported that former champion Rashad Evans has verbally agreed to face Antonio Rogerio “Lil Nog” Nogueira at a Super Bowl weekend card. Evans had recently been speculating on just whom his next bout would feature, and had stated that a rematch with Lyoto “The Dragon” Machida was something he was very interested in.
Evans was also rumored to be making the cut down to Middleweight in order to face champion Anderson Silva, but with Silva reportedly facing two huge superfights, talk of that bout has subsided. Evans is in sort of an odd spot right now, as he has shown the skills and abilities to best most fighters at 205, yet looked like he was quite far away from wresting the belt out of Jon Jones‘ hands back in April at UFC 145. Still, he took the champ the whole distance and has stated that another fight with Jones could be in the works for the future.
Evans will have to keep winning to do so, and it appears that Nogueira will be the roadblock on the way towards a title shot. Last seen dismantling Tito Ortiz with a brutal series of elbows to the body, Nogueira has been plagued by injuries, one of them forcing him to withdraw from a bout with surging contender Alexander Gustafsson earlier this year. He has also been quite vulnerable to high-level wrestlers, losing decisions to Phil Davis and Ryan Bader while winning a highly controversial split decision against Jason Brilz. Still, he has never been submitted and has only been knocked out once, proving that he is a very hard man to put away.
The fight will be tentatively set for UFC 156, and the Super Bowl weekend events are traditionally huge cards. Stay tuned to LowKick.com for more news and announcements for UFC 156 as they arise.