"Minotauro" Noguiera scratched from UFC 108 main event

The hits just keep on coming.

The replacement fight for the scratched Brock Lesnar/Shane Carwin heavyweight title fight, has now been broken up as well for UFC 108 as Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Noguiera has suffered a severe staph infection and will be unable to fight undefeated Cain Velasquez in their No. 1 contender showdown.

If you're keeping score at home, that is two top heavyweights now down for the count -- Lesnar and Noguiera.

Once again, this is devastating news for the UFC which can't seem to buy a break these days.

"Nogueira got staph infection, bad, to the point now it’s in his bloodstream, and he’s probably going to have to be hospitalized and intravenously given the antibiotics," UFC president Dana White revealed at the UFC 105 post-event press conference.

"It’s crazy," White said, "In nine years of being in this business, we haven’t had this many injuries in one year."

So unless White can scrounge up some other sort of main event caliber of fight, it appears that the Rashad Evans/Thiago Silva fight will be promoted up to main event and perhaps some other fight will be put together to boost the main card.

However, this is probably more disconcerting to Noguiera. This is now the second time in just under a year in which the great Brazilian fighter has fallen victim to staph. Do they not clean the mats down there in Brazil? I don't get it. It doesn't seem to be affecting any other fighter from that camp so maybe Noguiera just doesn't like to shower?

Whatever the case maybe, Noguiera needs to recover from this and recover fully to continue to be a force in the heavyweight division. If for whatever reason he is unable to get back to 100 percent, he will be passed over by guys like Velasquez, Kongo and Dos Santos.

Brock Lesnar out indefinitely

Post UFC 105, Dana White talked about his heavyweight champion who has been scratched from two straight events and seemingly unable to shake whatever illness he has.

Speaking with the media during the post fight press conference at UFC 105, White indicated that Brock Lesnar will be out far longer than just UFC 108.

"He's in a hospital up in North Dakota somewhere right now," said White. "He went to Canada and some bad stuff happened to him, so we've got to figure it out.

"He doesn't want to talk about it publicly, but he's in bad shape. He's not well and he's not going to be getting well anytime soon."

Lesnar pulled out of the UFC 106 main event fight with Shane Carwin near the end of October when he realized the illness he had wasn't going away. The fight was then moved temporarily to UFC 108 and didn't stay there long when it was determined shortly thereafter that Lesnar still hadn't recovered.

Now the champ is hospitalized with an undisclosed illness and appears to be out indefinitely.

"I am worried about it," said White of his biggest star's medical situation. "You know, I can't really talk about it right now, but he's in rough shape. He's in really bad shape … and we're going to have to do some stuff to take care of this guy. He is not well and he's not getting any better.

"We're going to have to send him to the Mayo Clinic or to Scripps, or one of those really good hospitals to figure out what's wrong with this guy."

News and notes around MMA -- week of 11/14

Because I am just one person and I don't have a whole lot of time on my hands, I figured a compilation post of all the significant news pieces for this week (November 8th to November 14th) would make sense not just for me but for all my loyal readers out there that would like to get up to date with all the recent news but not have to spend an hour reading multiple long posts.

So without any more wasted time, here that is with my analysis of the news in italics.

• Strikeforce's Fedor vs. Rogers event was a successful one. "The Last Emperor" was valiantly contested by Rogers but in the end, came through with another crushing knockout. It was also successful in that the event garnered 5.46 million viewers on CBS in the 9-11 pm time slot and scored huge with the 18-48 male and overall demographic. Absolutely huge for the sport.
• UFC 105 goes down this weekend from London, England as Randy Couture looks to return to the 205 lb division successfully against Brandon Vera. The weigh-ins will be live on Friday at 12 pm EST/ 9 am PST. Check out UFC.com or channel 101 on directv for the broadcast.
• UFC 106, which goes down next Saturday, November 21st, will once again broadcast two undercard fights on Spike prior to the pay-per-view broadcast. This time around the two bouts will feature welterweights Marcus Davis and Ben Saunders and a middleweight tilt between Kendall Grove and Jake Rosholt. Once again, this is important for the sport and the UFC as a whole. Continuing with this program is a must because it benefits everyone involved and continues to gain exposure for the sport.
• Fedor Emelianenko will be out up to six weeks due to a hand injury suffered in his fight against Rogers Saturday night. His next bout looks to be against Fabricio Werdum who also won last weekend (defeated Antonio Silva) sometime in early 2010. Important for Strikeforce in that the sooner he recovers the better. They need to be able to showcase their top fighter and probably the third best fighter in the world currently, as often as possible. Six months between fights is not an option.
• With injuries to all title holders sans BJ Penn who is scheduled to fight Diego Sanchez at UFC 107 on December 12, the UFC is left with Big Nog vs. Cain Velasquez and Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva as main events for its year end showcase on January 2nd. UFC 108 was supposed to feature Anderson Silva defending his middleweight belt against Vitor Belfort but needs more time to heal his elbow and the Lesnar/Carwin tilt has been postponed further as well. It's certainly disappointing to have to wait as long as we will have to now to see the top fighters like Silva, Lesnar and GSP in action but injuries are a part of this sport and you just have to deal with it. Hopefully the UFC will continue to load up this card with solid fights like the two already mentioned.
• Nate Marquardt vs. Chael Sonnen has been scheduled for UFC 110 in Sydney, Australia. With Dan Henderson still in contract negotiations and unable to fight, apparently Marquardt wasn't willing to sit around and wait. It'll be another big time middleweight contender tilt between two fighters on a roll. This is also good for Hendo if and when he decides to sign with the UFC in that he'll most likely not have to fight Marquardt since the soonest he would be ready after this bout would be May.
• Lastly, the UFC 105 Countdown show aired on Monday, November 9th but here it is in its entirety. Check it out.

Illness forces Lesnar out of UFC 106 main event

Just as President Barack Obama proclaims the H1N1 virus aka Swine Flu a national crisis, the UFC has its own mini crisis as Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar announced Monday that he will have to withdraw from his main event showdown with Shane Carwin at UFC 106.

Apparently the Champion has been dealing with a sickness for approximately three weeks and has been left unable to train. With the November 21st event less than a month away and Lesnar still unable to shake the cold he felt he was forced to withdraw from such an important fight.

The UFC reportedly has moved the Tito Ortiz/Forrest Griffin fight to co-main event status and is looking to set up a new fight to fill the gaping hole created by the departure of the heavyweight title fight between Lesnar and Carwin.

Lesnar/Carwin has been rescheduled to the UFC 108 card on January 2nd which is scheduled to take place from the MGM Grand in Las Vegas.

Check back at Fighter's Corner for further updates on the 106 card.

Frank Mir dishes on UFC 102, loss to Lesnar at 100, Anderson Silva and Fedor

Arguably the most intelligent, well-spoken fighter in the sport, Frank Mir talks with Raw Vegas about his loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 100, fighting Anderson Silva and why Fedor should just quit.

Watch Frank Mir Says Fedor Should Retire, Go Home And Disappear on RawVegas.tv

Mir is scheduled to fight fellow top heavyweight contender Cheick Kongo at UFC 107 in December.

Post event analysis of UFC 102

The UFC brass can't be much more proud of how their first foray into the Pacific Northwest fared Saturday night as they displayed UFC 102: Couture vs. Noguiera in Portland, Oregon live from the Rose Garden.

Over 16,000 fans filled the arena, producing a gate over $1.9 million while almost every one of the 11 fights proved to be exciting. None more than the main event between the two heavyweight legends.

Randy "The Natural" Couture (16-10) entered the fight against Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Noguiera (34-5-1) as a heavy favorite but it was Noguiera's superior boxing and ground game that was the difference in the fight as Noguiera went on to scrape the unanimous decision.

It was a battle in every round with the two Hall-of-Famers going toe-to-toe while unleashing the best of their striking arsenal upon their foe's face. The heavily Couture-sided crowd rose to its feet everytime Couture landed some big strikes that had Noguiera retreating or whenever he reversed the Brazilian's efforts on the ground.

An epic battle from start to finish that will certainly find a spot in the UFC's "top 100 fights".

Noguiera's win should propel him into the discussion for No. 1 contender of Brock Lesnar's heavyweight belt where about four or five other fighters consistently reside. The 34-year-old Brazilian says he's in top form, if he can keep it up a win over a guy like Cain Velasquez or Gabriel Gonzaga down the line could further propel him.

On the other side of the coin is Couture, who announced on Sunday that he has signed a six fight, 28 month contract extension with the UFC. What's amazing is the fact that at 46 years of age, Couture believes he is in the best shape of his career. So the Hall-of-Famer will go on fighting for another 28 months which will carry him well past his 48th birthday.

God bless "The Natural". What lies ahead? We'll see in the near future but rest assured, Couture will be fighting only the best.

Outside of the main event, there were a number of important developments from undercard fights. First off was Nate Marquardt dispatching fellow middleweight contender and previously undefeated Damien Maia (11-1) in 22 seconds with a highlight reel knockout.

Marquardt joins Dan Henderson as No. 1 contenders for Anderson Silva's middleweight belt. Both have previously fought -- and lost -- to Silva before and both, however, have improved especially Marquardt. Who the UFC chooses still looks to favor Henderson but remains in the air.

The other action was just as compelling and noteworthy.

Thiago Silva stunned Keith Jardine with a vicious right hand and some quick ground-and-pound for a TKO victory in under two minutes of their fight. Silva bounced back nicely with the win after the KO loss to Lyoto Machida, inserting himself right back into the picture while Jardine continues his trademark one step forward and one step backward march through the elite of the division. It leaves Jardine in a precarious position. He's a top 7 or 8 guy in the division but firmly set there -- no better and no worse.

Jake Rosholt took "submission of the night" honors and a $60,000 bonus for his choke out of Chris Leben. Gabriel Gonzaga finished Chris Tuchscherer impressively in one round with strikes and another heavyweight, Todd Duffee, continued bolster the division's depth by scoring a very impressive, seven second KO which set the UFC record.

The other nightly honors:

Fight of the night: Couture vs. Noguiera
Knockout of the night: Nate Marquardt