Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has been offered a light heavyweight fight against Dan Henderson that would serve as the main event for UFC 105.
That’s according to a report from The Sun, who recently posted the news.
Nogieura, the brother of UFC heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo, recently signed a four-fight deal with the company and was expected to make his debut at UFC 105.
The two men have faced off before, with Nogueira scoring a submission victory over Henderson at PRIDE Total Elimination 2005.
If Henderson agrees to the fight, it indicates that he’s given up on trying to land a shot at Anderson Silva. Henderson feels like he earned a rematch with Silva with his knockout win over Michael Bisping at UFC 100, but Silva claims that Henderson should have to face Nate Marquardt to determine the top contender. Henderson claimed in recent weeks that he would move back to light heavyweight if he wasn’t granted an immediate match with Silva.
The company already has a replacement in mind if the fight, like so many others scheduled for this show, fails to come to fruition. Veteran UFC welterweight Matt Hughes is being considered as an opponent for Mike Swick, who last week pulled out of his UFC 103 bout with Martin Kampmann. Rumors immediately began swirling that Swick could face Hughes, and Swick fanned the flames via Twitter late in the week.
The main event bout is expected to be announced shortly.
UPDATE: According to Josh Gross from Sports Illustrated, Henderson won’t be fighting Nogueira. In fact, Henderson doesn’t have a contract with the UFC and negotiations are “slow”. Henderson seemingly won’t fight anyone except for Silva, even going so far as to propose a light heavyweight bout with the Spider instead of a middleweight bout. He simply wants another shot at beating the middleweight champion, even if the title isn’t on the line.
