Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (”Big Nog”) UFC Bound?

PRIDE standout Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (29-4-1 MMA, 0-0 UFC) was at last night’s UFC Fight Night 9 event in Las Vegas and was expected to be announced as a new UFC heavyweight fighter, according to Dave Meltzer at Wrestling Observer.
At the start of last night’s live scoring for the site, Melzter posted this juicy tidbit:

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is at the show. It is expected he will be introduced as the new heavyweight signing for UFC during the live broadcast tonight.

The night wore on (in painstakingly slow fashion, at times), but the announcement never came.
That, of course, doesn’t mean it couldn’t happen. Tomorrow’s UFC 69 event, for example, would be just as opportune of a time to announce one of the world’s top heavyweights to the UFC fan base.
Still, Meltzer was stumped. After all, unlike Saturday’s pay-per-view broadcast, last night’s Spike TV event was shown to a national audience on basic cable.
From Wrestling Observer later that night:

Show is over and no announcement of anything even though Nogueira was there. He was also never shown. Seems like a wasted opportunity.

“Big Nog,” a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu expert, has posted marquee wins over Mirko Filipovic, Josh Barnett, Dan Henderson, Fabricio Werdum, Heath Herring and Jeremy Horn, among many other notables since he began fighting in 1999.
The Brazilian could bolster a UFC heavyweight division that’s come a long way in the past couple months. With Randy Couture back in the mix as the division’s champion (with a win over Tim Sylvia at UFC 68), Filipovic and Werdum have also been lured to the UFC. One-time top contender Brandon Vera has stated his intention to return to the Octagon, and one-time champ Andrei Arlovski looked solid in his latest outing. Fringe contenders include Herring and youngsters such as Gabriel Gonzaga, Jake O’Brien and Cheick Kongo.
The addition of Nogueira would mean another instant contender.

Hear that? it's the sound of Syliva's chances of being heavyweight champ going further down the drain.

Cro Cop Nogueira2? AWESOME

I love Tim Sylvias chances of even getting a title shot shrinking by the minute!! Big Nog and Randy would be a good fight!! Greco Roman vs. BJJ-

I ADMIT WHEN THEY WERE ABOUT TO MAKE THE ANNOUNCEMENT I THOUGHT FOR A SPLIT SECOND IT WAS GONNA BE FEDOR!!!! Then Big Nog comes up and I was let down for a minute,...then I realized that this would be sweet to watch him destroy Sylvia!!

let him fight Sokoudjou

I like the possible fight options this brings to the UFC. I wonder if Nog wants to take any fights at 205?? It would be pretty tough for him to make that weight at this point I think.

JoeDaddy wrote:

let him fight Sokoudjou

Did you see Sokoudjou vs Arona from Pride 34, WOW

goto the pride topic and read the story from Arona about that!