UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira - Aug 29th Discussion

[Mr. IWS]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira - Aug 29th Discussion

Everything in my brain, and what I read on Nog tells me he is finished, but I just have this feeling in my guy he will pull this out.

[Luke]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira - Aug 29th Discussion

Everything in my brain, and what I read on Nog tells me he is finished, but I just have this feeling in my guy he will pull this out.

Could be I have been dead wrong many times before

[Mr. IWS]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira - Aug 29th Discussion

This is the Sherdog preview of Nog vs. Couture

Randy "The Natural" Couture.
Randy Couture vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

The Breakdown: Two of MMA’s heavyweight legends look to prove naysayers wrong one more time, as elder face smasher Couture takes on a suddenly shopworn Nogueira. Despite being just a few months removed from his 33rd birthday, Nogueira’s years of absorbing beatings like a Brazilian Jake LaMotta seemed to catch up with him when Frank Mir soundly trounced him at UFC 92. Couture is not coming off the fight of his life, either, as he failed to stop the centaur known as Brock Lesnar from claiming the heavyweight crown that once rested on his own head. With that said, Couture has not left his last few fights looking like a back-alley hospital patient.

With Mir having already written the script for starching Nogueira, watch for Couture to use his wrestling to keep the fight standing and rely on his boxing from there. Whether or not playing the same tune as Mir works for Couture will depend on just how much of his old self Nogueira has rediscovered in his eight months away from the cage. In a sport where nostalgia runs deep but counts for little, Nogueira has to prove he still has something left to offer after already giving so much.

The X Factor: Lost in all the dismissive chatter about Nogueira is the fact that Couture is a 46-year-old man competing in a sport that skews younger than the cast of whatever atrocious teen-age drama the CW airs. Sooner or later, Couture is going to hit the same wall Brett Favre has already run into several times. How capable Nogueira is of sending him on his way remains anyone’s guess, but he’s proven everyone wrong countless times before.

***

The Bottom Line: Nogueira fans should start practicing their cringing, as Couture is going to turn this into a one-sided dirty boxing display that the Brazilian won’t be able to do much of anything about. No miracle submissions this time around, as Nogueira ends up getting saved by the referee’s sense of compassion but not before taking two rounds worth of Couture’s old-school bullying.

[SPX]

Re: UFC 102: Couture vs Nogueira - Aug 29th Discussion

That's pretty much what I'm thinking too, but I am still afraid of that "miracle sub."