Photo by Saeed Bawaney
Coming off a decision win over Rashad Evans, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira was not surprised that Evans didn’t try for more takedowns. “He tried like three or four times but my defense was good… I think he gave up…I used good kicking defense…. and boxing to break his mind.” says Nogueira. Only taken down briefly in the first round after which he popped right back up, Nogueira believes he was successful at nullifying Rashad’s wrestling. Dana White believes this puts Lil’ Nog back in the mix at 205 and also added “this is the worst Rashad I’ve ever seen.” With this win, Nogueira is 4-2 in the UFC and 21-5 MMA.
Where does this put Rashad who has now lost two in a row? Just a couple of days ago, Rashad was talking about facing Jon Jones again and possibly Anderson Silva at 185. We often see fighters making plans past the fight in front of them as the case with Allen Belcher in his fight with Okami. Now they most likely will be paired with another fighter that has recently lost.