Nogueira accepts to face Couture at UFC 101

Nogueira gives the thumbs up to face Couture

Earlier this week it was reported that former UFC Heavyweight champion and Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture has agreed to a matchup with former PRIDE and interim UFC title holder Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira to a showdown at UFC 101 in the month of August and all that was left for the bout to be in the works was for Nogueira to accept the challenge and now “Minotauro” has agreed to the fight as well. 

MMAWeekly.com who first reported the Couture vs Nogueira matchup received word from sources close to the bout that “The Natural” has agreed to take the bout.

Now according to Sherdog.com they have reported that Couture’s camp received confirmation that Nogueira has accepted the challenge and will now be in the process of getting bout agreements signed which currently has not happened at this time.

Couture who is currently working in a movie titled “The Expendables” which is featured and directed by Sylvester Stallone was reportedly offered the fight with Nogueira earlier this year, but declined due to the fact that he needed surgery to repair an old injury to his elbow, but now Couture has opted to take the fight given now that he is in good shape to get ready for a tough battle with the always dangerous Nogueira.

As for Nogueira, he will be looking to make another title run like Couture after being on the receiving end of a knockout in the loss to Frank Mir at UFC 92 this past December which was the first knockout loss of his storied career. Nogueira will be spending most of his training camp for this fight in Los Angeles, California to work on his re-sharpen his Boxing skills with legendary trainer, Freddie Roach who has been working with former UFC Heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski and most recently Anderson Silva a teammate of Nogueira’s.

Although it has not yet been confirmed, the UFC 101 location could be taking place in the city of Portland, Oregon but in the meantime; we will keep you posted on furter details in regards to the August UFC event in the days and weeks to come.