Big Nog Injured And Out Of UFC 149 Bout, Shawn Jordan Set To Replace Him

[No More Sorrow]

With his broken arm still not fully healed, former UFC interim champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (33-7-1 MMA, 4-3 UFC) has pulled out of next month's UFC 149 event.

In his place steps Shawn Jordan (13-3 MMA, 1-0 UFC), who now fights fellow heavyweight Cheick Kongo (17-7-2 MMA, 10-5-1 UFC).


Sherdog first reported the scratch and Jordan's acceptance of the fight earlier today. MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) confirmed Nogueira's withdrawal.


UFC 149 takes place July 21 at Scotiabank Saddledome in Calgary, Alberta, Canada. The main card airs on pay-per-view, and FX and Facebook are expected to carry the prelims.


Jordan vs. Kongo is slated for the main card.


Nogueira was slated to fight for the first time since breaking his arm in a submission loss to Frank Mir at UFC 140. He underwent surgery soon after the December loss.


Jordan, a recent Strikeforce import, made his UFC debut and scored a TKO victory over Oli Thompson at UFC on FX 2 back in March. It marked the former LSU football player and current Team Jackson-Winkeljohn member's fourth win in his past five fights.


Kongo, meanwhile, looks to rebound from a disappointing loss to Mark Hunt at February's UFC 144 event. The surprising defeat snapped a four-fight unbeaten streak for Kongo (which included wins over Paul Buentello, Pat Barry and Matt Mitrione, as well as a draw with Travis Browne). The Hunt loss was the Frenchman's first defeat since a December 2009 loss to Mir.


The latest UFC 149 card includes:


MAIN CARD (Pay-per-view)
Urijah Faber vs. Renan Barao (for interim bantamweight title)
Tim Boetsch vs. Hector Lombard
Shawn Jordan vs. Cheick Kongo*
Siyar Bahadurzada vs. Chris Clements

PRELIMINARY CARD (FX)
Roland Delorme vs. TBA
Mitch Clarke vs. Anton Kuivanen
Court McGee vs. Nick Ring
Bryan Caraway vs. Mitch Gagnon
Antonio Carvalho vs. George Roop
Ryan Jimmo vs. Anthony Perosh
James Head vs. Claude Patrick

Of course he's injured..God this card went to complete shit over the last month.

 

[Ryan]

What in the hell did this card even look like to begin with? All I remember is being unbelievably hyped about it.

 

[No More Sorrow]

It was;

Aldo vs. Koch
Shogun vs. Thiago Silva
Big Nog vs. Cheick Kongo
Yoshiro Akiyama vs. Thiago Alves
Bisping vs Tim Botesch

 

[Slim]

dang that's what the card used to look like? This card freakin blows chunks.

And now that Big Nog is out... which it woulda been surprising to see him fighting so soon after that injury...

this card sucks... but I'ma still watch

 

[No More Sorrow]

Faber-Barao is a lot better than Aldo-Koch but not by much honestly. Only other thing i'm looking forward too is Hector Lombard.

 

[Ryan]

Damn, that's right, this card was kick ass. I was looking forward to seeing Aldo fight even though there's no one who can beat him at 145. I always like seeing Faber fight though and I gotta give him credit for doing fights on back to back cards although I wouldn't be surprised if at least one of those fights gets moved.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Yeah it's been a brutal string of injuries for the UFC, don't know how they expect people to buy UFC 147 and UFC 149 when on paper the cards look like complete shit.

 

[Troy]

Never seen Shawn Jordan fight. This card went from bad, to really strong and now it is back to bad again. Looks like I will be saving some money by not buying this PPV. Lombard's debut and the poster boy Faber trying to win a title are the only selling points for me.

 

[No More Sorrow]

This is only his second UFC fight the last one came on the prelims show of the Australia Card they had a few months back. He came over from Strikeforce though.

Think Kongo has this fight now.

 

[No More Sorrow]

Here's an explanation on why Big Nog pulled from the fight.

When Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira accepted a fight with Cheick Kongo for UFC 149 next month, he had received initial clearance from his doctors to return to full training after suffering a broken arm against Frank Mir in December.

However, he was forced out of the bout with Kongo over the weekend when difficulties in training made it clear the arm wasn't fully ready to go. In an interview with Fighter's Only, his physiotherapist Angela Cortes commented on the reasoning behind him stepping out of the bout.


"The objectives that were set to reach the prime of the preparation in the period of training had been obtained," she said. "But during the intense sessions of sparring Rodrigo related discomfort followed by pain in the arm that went under surgery, caused by takedowns and impact from punches on the region where the screws are placed."

Unfortunate that he took the fight with out knowing if he'd be completely ready for the fight. Guess this is more his doctors fault than anything for clearing him to get back to training too early.

 

[Deezy]

Damn Big Nog has bad luck with training.

That card looks terrible, and will most likely bomb livegate and PPV.