Big Nog pulls out of fight with Mir ! Mirko Crocop is the replacement !!

Rodrigo Nogueira is out of his UFC 119 fight with Frank Mir after suffering an injury in training, a Brazilian source tells Fighters Only.

The nature of the injury was not disclosed but the source says it will require surgery. Nogueira is said to be “incredibly frustrated” by it and expects to be out until the New Year.

The fight with Mir was to headline UFC 119 and was a rematch of their meeting, which saw Nogueira stopped for the first time in his professional career.

Fighters Only has also been told the UFC has already secured a replacement and it will be “a really big name opponent”, although the source we spoke to did not provide a name.

http://www.fightersonlymagazine.co.uk/news/viewarticle.php?id=5076&offset=0


Im dissapointed that Nog pulled out, this was a very good winnable fight for Mir to get back into contention.

As for the replacement im personally hoping for Ricco but very much doubt it will happen. JDS wont risk his title shot, and Roy Nelson is having surgery. So cant see where the replacement is coming from. Perhaps Carwin rematch?? Doubt it


How about Mir-Crocop ?

Hope its not someone like Barry or Yvel although got a feeling it probably is.

Shit I was looking forward to both Nog brothers on the card, I really hope Big Nog rests up and heals all his injuries, I hope he doesnt rush back to action before he is ready because it seems the Vultures are circling round him because he seems easy pickings, Crocop and Nelson are trying for a fight with him etc..

Ive No Idea who would be a good fight for Mir, Carwin is probabally ready to fight though I dont think he will. Mirko is a fight id love to see!!! I dont hold out much hope for it but its the type of big fight that may tempt Crocop.

Ricco would be a great call though I think they are hoping to use him at 205

With Rothwell and Nelson out injured. And Mir having already fought Carwin. JDS probably not risking his title shot.

That just leaves...

Crocop
Barry
Yvel
Maybe Struve?

It's Crocop according to a FO update.

He's gonna rape Mir.

Fuck yeah.


This is way more exciting than Mir-Nog 2. Crocop-Mir is a fight we should have seen for awhile now. Cant wait.


Mir is going to snap that reconstructed knee for good and retire Mirko

Yeah Mirko is getting tapped here. Hoping and Praying that Mirko pulls off a stunning win but I dont think he has the hunger for the sport any more.

Mir wins this one I think, hope I'm wrong though.

Mir's got to get CroCop down first. He'll get murdered on the feet if he can't. And i don't think he will.

Mir sparked Kongo who beat Crocop... I know it doesnt always work like that but Crocop has slowed considerabally, I think Mir will be comfortable enough on the feet abainst Mirko who I think is performing at 50% these days.

Cro cops stand up is still far better than Mirs. I would love Mirko to beat Mir.

Ben did you see my holy shit thread? Dya wanna go?

As long as Cro Cop isn't timid, it's his fight to win. Cro Cop was visibly haunted by the Gonzaga fight for years, but he looked like his mind was back in the game against Barry. I'd pick mentally sound Mirko over any version you could build of Frank Mir. Mirko is too fast and evasive, his in and out movement is outstanding. Mir needs to cut Cro Cop off and that'll be hard to do in the octagon.

Furthermore, Mir's striking has become absurdly over-rated. You can count the times he's ever looked decent standing on one hand, he's still lumbering and awkward. Seriously, can anyone see him landing his telegraphed rear hand uppercut-left straight combo in this fight? I rate Cro Cop as one of the best boxers in the sport, above the quality of Arlovski based on his offence and defensive capabilities, and Mir can't take a good shot. At all.

Mir could take Cro Cop down but I think it'd have to be off catching a kick like Gonzaga did. And if Mir can't get Mirko down, and Mirko's on form, Mir's going to get lit up.

This is an exciting fight for sure, far more exciting than the re-match.
WAR MIRKO!

Dont think Crocop can rely on Mir to high 5 him and start hugging him in the fight when Crocop gets in trouble.


No one is saying Mir is going to outstrike Crocop, but Mir does have good stand up and is getting better and better each time. His stand up is good enough to hang with Crocop whilst coming up with a way to take him down.


And i dont think the Crocop of now is that much faster than the 240 lb Mir (i think this is the Mir that will show up). Crocop has slowed down considerably as of late.


Any way this is a great fucking fight, i dont think i have ever seen a boring fight involving either fighter so this matchup is just fascinating.

Fast an Evasive arent two words that come to mind describing Mirko these days!

You ask any Casual or just UFC can who only saw him in the UFC and I think they would have a chuckle at his being called that. Mirko is slow and Flat footed with poor reflaxes and head movement. Mirko is just past his Prime. Thats is.

Mir may not be the fighter Crocop was and may not ever be but Mir is a great fighter right now and Crocop isnt. Watch that Mir fight against Kongo. Kongo is a dangerous fighter, more so than Pat Barry who dropped Crocop. Crocop is on his way down like 95% of his generation.

Mir isnt a guy Im a fan of but after two 280lbs monsters bulldozed him people seem to forget the flashes of brilliance he has shown recently in the Nog and Kongo fights, Where has Crocop hasnt done anything to really impress me since he left pride.

How Much better than the Crocop who beat Barry (Who was a journeyman as much as I like him) in 1 month, this fight is happening soon and Crocop has been sitting thinking about retiring. Mir not ending this early would be a shocker.

Cro Cop was able to avoid a lot of shots and check a lot of kicks from Barry, and from Dos Santos, both of whom are better strikers than Mir and Kongo. Furthermore he found decent success landing against both.

The only brilliant thing Mir's done standing is knock Kongo down, and Kongo isn't as impervious as people think, particularly when he fights at range. I'm sorry but the Nogueira fight is not a real reflection of Mir's abilities or punching power. It was impressive how he put him away but Nogueira was utterly stationary and chin shot. How can you even hold the Nogueira fight up as a barometer for Mir's striking when Nogueira, a fighter who's taken Crocop's highkicks, Fedors best gnp and pile drivers from Sapp, gets dropped by a jab from a totally squared up and static Frank Mir?

Barry is nightmare guy for Cro Cop to strike with. Not just current Mirko, but he'd have found Barry a handful in his prime.

No one should forget, Brandon Vera basically fucked Mir up with one straight punch. The knee ended the fight but the straight punch set it up. One left straight from Cro Cop puts Mir in big trouble.

Mir's going to beat Cro-cop to the punch,put him flat on his arse and then tie him up like a pretzel,before either choking him out cold or getting the easy tap out,easy nights work for Mir and one I'm going to absolutely love watching

FUCK YEAH ! Great result, i give Mirko the edge in this.. 1st round TKO for me

Man I hope your right but I think some of that is clutching at straws.

Kongo was called the best striker in the devision by the UFC at one point, I know he wasnt but he beat Crocop and would have without the ball shots. Nog being Chinshot is funny because before Mir he was Frankenstein. 2 KO's later and he is a chinless wonder. Watch what Randy hit Nog with some huge shots, Randy may not be George Foreman but as I say he has enough of his shits to put Liddell and Sylvia down.

Again I hope your right but I reckon Mirko isnt the same Physically, the punches he hit a lot of fighters recently didnt look to have the power as he once had. Speed aside I dont think he can hit as hard as he did.

Size difference - Mir's a big heavy, Crocop could make Lhw, theres a lot of reach too.
Stage in their career - Mir has looked to get better, Crocop worse.

I though Nog was a viable option for Crocop and most of us expected Mir to bulldoze him again.

Hold on if Mir against Nog is not a true reflection on Mir capabilities then how is Mir-Vera an accurate reflection? Mir looked absolutely terrible in those fights after his accident. It was only after the Hardonk win when people started saying he's back. Even though he had a win over Dan Christinson after his accident also.


Both these guys do not usually go to a decision. So expect Sub of the night or Ko of the night in this fight.


This is the fight i am most looking forward to after Brock-Cain. Again to reiterate..... FUCK YEAH !!!!

Mir's striking is nowhere close to Barry's and CroCop isn't Kongo. Any suggestions that Mir is even going to be able to compete standing are wide of the mark. Mir's not exactly got a good chin. and the last time he faced a really good striker, Vera, he got his ass handed to him.

It's dependant on which version of Mirko turns up. If the Mirko that fought Barry turns up then he's got a great chance to put Mir away. If the Mirko that fought Kongo turns up, Mir will get him down and sub him.

Vera-Mir is more a demonstration of Mir's lack of ability to absorb punishment. Mir shrinks when he gets hit flush, and all that's changed since then is that Mir has suffered a further two KO losses. Unless Mir has miraculously strengthened his chin, I think that gif. is still very aplicable, considering Mir's coming up against a fighter who still has a very good left straight.

I would still say it's pretty clear Nogs chin has gone. I didn't think the Sylvia fight spoke particularly badly of Nogueiras chin considering how hard Sylvia hits, but a fighters chin can easily just go between one fight and the next. The staph contributed, but Mir and Velasquez fights confirm it. Anderson went from never being troubled by a strike to being wobbled by Sonnen in the opening minute of their fight. David Tua who had never been knocked down and had an incredible chin, got put down hard by Monte Barrett a few weeks ago.

The cro-cop that fought barry,showed abit more heart granted and a slight improvement in his stand up(once barry stopped throwing),but he was far from a good cro-cop.
This was a fight that barry threw away by basicly stopping after breaking his hand and foot,not a fight that cro-cop turned around by grinding out and out working or striking Barry.
It's not as if he won by using anything close to what can be described as impressive skills,thats why he had to go for the ground game,since Barry has zero ground game(Hague).

For the short time Barry was throwing strikes,cro-cop was being totaly out classed standing,
He was getting embarassed,up untill barry stopped punching and wanted to cuddle his hero.

I've got no doubts that Mir can hang with this Cro-cop standing,long enough to get the fight where he wants it,plus cro-cop has never really faced many guys of mirs size and strength,so I think Mir has the power to drop him,like he did to Kongo and Nog or take him down(I'm not saying Mir will all of a sudden be a K1 level fighter or anything)but I don't for a second think cro-cop can hang with Mir now,if the fight hits the deck.

This is a fight where I can see so many ways for Mir to win and not anywhere near enough ways that cro-cop can,maybe 4 years ago,it would of been differant but this cro-cop is a journey man at best.

I just hope everyone here who thinks Crocop still has what it takes and is favourite for this fight, to have the same attitude about Crocop, after Mir beats him.

So we dont hear the excuses of Crocop being shot and he would have destroyed Mir if it was in a ring and all that crap.


Cos i remember a good few having Coleman to beat Randy, saying Couture is shot then blasting Randy after putting a whooping on Coleman ass.

I'm not sure who to pick in this fight. Both fighters have there strengths and weaknesses.

First of all there's some things I disagree with, like Nog's chin being completely gone. Look at the end of the Mir fight, he wasn't out, he got straight back up. It was just a case of letting in too many shots by a guy with power and it eventually was too much for him. The stalph infection clearly affected him and he was very slow, that allowed Mir to hit him with ease. Thats not really a testement to Mir's skills standing, but it shows his power.

Also I think Barry is a better striker than Mir and Kongo, isn't he like 18-0 as a kickboxer. Getting rocked by him a few times isn't the worst thing in the world, he would spark either Kongo or Mir if they tried to stand with him.

Standing I do think Cro Cop has the advantage, but Mir does have power and Cro Cop has been keeping his hands low recently. But other than that, Cro Cop has better boxing and much better kicks and he is training with some of the best kickboxers in the world as well. Advantage Cro cop for me if fights smart.

I also don't think its a defenitive Mir sub if it goes to the ground. Mir's BJJ is overated IMO, his wins by sub have come over:

Kongo: Notorious poor ground game

Lesnar: Second MMA fight where he gifted Mir his knee.

Hardonk: Pretty shit fighter, showed very little in his career to suggest he has a good ground game

Sylvia: Good sub here but a classic case of Timmeh getting caught early.

Tank:

Williams: Lost to nearly every good fighter he faced and he retired after Mir fought him.

Traven: He had good BJJ but he was quite a poor fighter

Quinn: Can

So its not really all that impressive. I don't think he has won or come close to winning any sort of top grappling tourtument and he has that loss to Nelson as well in a grappling match. Cro Cop's ground game is the best its ever been right now, he still has excellent takedown defence and he is very good at getting back up.

Im edging towards Cro Cop a bit right now but I certainly wouldn't put him favourite.

Oh please lets go through Crocop opponents who he's beaten last few years.

Barry, Perosh, Al turk, Choi, Mizuno, Eddie Sanchez.

And now he's submitted Pat Barry, people think Mir cant submit him.