By Greg Riot
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Brendan Schaub have been both very clear on what their game plan will be coming into UFC Rio on Saturday, August 27 at Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Schaub will be depending on his hands and will be looking for a KO finish while Nogueira will slug it out but look for opening for take downs so that he can go to the floor and attempt submissions. The burning question for this fight is who’s got the edge, the KO artist or the Submission artist? Let’s see who BetDSI Sportsbook gives the edge to in their UFC Rio Betting Lines:
ANTONIO RODRIGO NOGUEIRA PK+180
BRENDAN SCHAUB PK-220
Schaub who is on a 4 win streak that includes wins over Gabriel Gonzaga and Mirko Filipović, is the favorite to win. He has heavy hands that can topple heavyweights with punches that don’t even connect fully. The hits that do fully connect leaves his opponent stunned and gives him the opening he needs to finish the fight. Any hype surrounding Brendan Schaub is well deserved as he is not just a quickly rising star with an 8-1 record that he recorded in less than 3 years. He is also a Golden Gloves boxing champ, has a Purple Belt in BJJ and trains at Jackson’s Submission Fighting.
Nogueira is a true MMA Legend who once held the Pride Heavyweight and the UFC Heavyweight titles on separate occasions. He is a MMA veteran who has been fighting since 1999 and holds an outstanding 32-6-1, 1NC record. He brings to the tables a Black Belt in BJJ and Judo, along with good stamina and boxing skills. All of Rio’s eyes will be on Nogueira the Brazilian so he is coming into this fight with a tremendous amount of pressure on his shoulders.
Nogueira looked good in his last fight against Cain Velasquez before he got KO’d in the first round. His boxing looked quick and his combos looked fluid, but he was slow on his counter attacks and allowed Cain to be the aggressor. He looked pretty relaxed in that fight and didn’t throw any haymakers. Furthermore, Cain left that fight with hardly a scratch on him.
Nogueira’s chin has been tested and the results don’t look good. Although he has only lost once by KO and once by TKO, his last fight showed that his chin isn’t as strong as it looks. Nogueira wins come by 2 KO’s, 20 submissions and 10 decisions. You would have thought that he would attempt a takedown or submission against Cain at least once in that fight, especially since his punches weren’t connected, but he didn’t. This makes me doubt Nogueira’s adjustment and assessment skills during a fight.
UFC Rio Nogueira vs Schaub Betting Prediction: Take Schaub to win by KO or TKO before the 2.5 round mark. He knows that a win over another legend at Rio will put him into the UFC heavyweight title contenders mix.
