The fight card on UFC 161 has taken another hit, as it keeps coming ever so close in its unforunate turn of events to a sequel of UFC 149 last year in Calgary. A rematch of a fan favorite fight from back in the PRIDE days between Antonio Rogerio Nogueira and Mauricio “Shogun” Rua was scheduled to take place, but today Nogueira pulled out of the fight due to injury, leaving Shogun without an opponent.
At the moment, Shogun is without an opponent and the UFC is looking for a replacement. Many names have been brought up to potentially step in and face Shogun, including the likes of Glover Teixeira and Chael Sonnen.
Shogun and his camp actually refused to fight Teixeira last year, with UFC president Dana White even going on the record and saying that Shogun would’ve rather been cut than fight Teixeira. Glover now has a bigger presence in the UFC’s light heavyweight division but was also under medical suspension after his recent win over James Te Huna at UFC 160, though that can be cleared up quickly.
Chael Sonnen actually took to Twitter to call out Shogun, but has since deleted the tweet. It’s not the first time that Sonnen has offered to step up on short notice, as he did the same thing before UFC 151 was cancelled.
UFC 161, with the loss of Shogun, has lost two of its originally scheduled big fights now. The original main event of Renan Barao vs. Eddie Wineland for the interim bantamweight title was scrapped just under two weeks ago.
