Mauricio \u201cShogun\u201d Rua will look to beat Antonio Rogerio Nogueira for a third time in the UFC on ESPN 14 co-main event. Rua enters as a -195 favorite over Nogueira (+155) in the light heavyweight fight.<\/p>\n
The two men first fought while in Pride FC in 2005, then took a rematch in the UFC in 2015. Rua won by unanimous decision on both occasions.<\/p>\n
\u201cI fought Nogueira [at] the start of my career, the middle, and the final,\u201d Rua told reporters on Tuesday. \u201cI\u2019m happy because Rogerio is a legend of the sport, and I know this fight motivates him. But for me, too, and I\u2019m very happy for this fight.\u201d<\/p>\n
The 44-year-old Nogueira has announced that this will likely be his final professional MMA fight.<\/p>\n
I think it\u2019s a good time to stop now. I think it\u2019s going to be the last one,\u201d<\/strong> Nogueira told reporters. \u201cIn my last three years, it was very difficult to train, because I had a herniated disc. I had to cancel a lot of fights. Every year I fought one time, then the second one I would have to cancel.\u201d<\/strong><\/p><\/blockquote>\nAlso on the UFC on ESPN 14 card, Fabricio Werdum (+260) takes on Alexander Gustafsson (-350) in a heavyweight tilt, while the undefeated Marina Rodriguez (-185) is favored over Carla Esparza (+145) in women\u2019s strawweight action.<\/strong><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Robert Whittaker faces a difficult challenge if he wants to bounce back from losing his middleweight title, as he takes on No. 5 contender Darren Till in the main event of UFC on ESPN 14 this Saturday. When Whittaker last stepped into the Octagon, he lost his belt to Israel Adesanya, who knocked out the […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":42,"featured_media":142768,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"footnotes":""},"categories":[16,1074],"tags":[],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n
UFC on ESPN 14 Odds: Whittaker Narrowly Favored vs. Till<\/title>\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n\n\n\n\n\n\t\n\t\n\t\n