The UFC 190 event scheduled for August 1 has added a heavyweight bout between Stefan Struve and Rodrigo “Minotauro” Noguiera to the main card. The match pits two fighters who are hearing the calls of retirement and have appeared to be fading in recent outings, but a win here for either man will almost certainly get them a future fight.
Noguiera has gone 0-2 in his last two fights, and he is 2-4 if you go back six fights. At 34-9-1 overall, Noguiera is going to go down as one of Brazil’s top competitors from this era, but the mileage of so many fights has really made Noguiera appear slow in recent outings. In his last outing, he was KO’d by Roy Nelson and in what may be a greater sign that he is slowing down, the high level black belt has been submitted by Frank Mir and Fabricio Werdum. Despite Werdum and Mir being accomplished ground fighters, there was a time in his career where Big Nog could count on at least not being finished on the ground.
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Struve is 27 years old, and at 25-7, the 6 ft. 10 in. fighter should be entering his prime years as a force in the heavyweight division. Back in September of 2012, Struve was riding a four-fight winning streak after having just defeated Stipe Miocic. In his next outing however he received a broken jaw after going to war with Mark Hunt. After a long layoff to heal, the “Skyscraper” had to pull out of a fight after suffering fainting spells in the lockerroom, and another long layoff ensued. In December of 2014 he returned to face Alistair Overeem and was on the receiving end of a first-round knock out. With Struve’s history of being brutally KO’d dating back to 2009, he should be a candidate for early retirement.
With Struve’s relative youth and length, if he is able to bring back some of his explosion, his knees and strikes can be particularly dangerous to Noguiera, who will be looking to get off counterstrikes to hurt Struve. Both men have no reason to not swing for the fences, as both must see the others’ weakness.
