Two heavyweight powerhouses who met at UFC 92 will renew their rivalry at UFC 119 at the Conseco Fieldhouse in Indianapolis, Indiana on Sept 25th. That’s the date when Frank Mir and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira duke it out in a rematch to see who moves their way back up the exciting UFC heavyweight division, and who falls by the wayside from the top tier. It’s a key fight for both opponents. Nogueira is looking to come back from a loss to Cain Velasquez, and more pivotal and directly related to this bout, wants revenge for his knockout loss at the hands of Frank Mir in the first round when the two first met up.

For Frank Mir, it’s time for redemption. While he received much praise for his KO win over the then unfinishable “Big Nog”, those accolades where quickly put to the side and chants of Nogueira not performing to his potential due to a staph infection where chirped about amongst the MMA community. Unfortunately there is a asterisk of the staph infection brought up in conversation numerous times when people discuss this bout. This is a point of disgust for Mr. Mir, but he’s going to have a chance to prove that that first bout was nothing but a fluke win, or due to an illness in the body of his Brazilian opponent.

And another big factor driving Mir’s motivation is settling his personal score with Brock Lesnar. While getting back to the title is definitely an aim of the American MMA fighter, it sometimes seems from the way Mir speaks that driving his fists to the skull of Lesnar is more of what he obsesses about, and the UFC gold would just a cherry on top. It’s not the loss that so much has been a sticking point to Mir, but the instant trash talk and manner in which Lesnar got into Mir’s face after scoring the knockout. Mir’s a man on a mission–one that involves securing some peace of mind for himself by inflicting much violence and stopping Brock Lesnar. But a necessary step another thing on the to-do list for Mir is to once again Nogueira. He’ll get his chance to do so in September in Indiana, and here are some factors to take into consideration when these two former UFC heavyweight champs go at it at UFC 119.

STRIKING

Frank Mir has shown moments of brilliance in his striking game. He scored some excellent strikes against Nogueira in their first fight and also landed a beautiful punch that dropped Cheick Kongo when Mir squared off with the French fighter. That punch was the precursor to Mir choking out the gigantic heavyweight competitor. Prior to Mir and Nogueira fighting, I would have said that Nogueira had the better striking, but after the way Mir attacked and picked apart Nogueira in that fight and dropped him several times in the contest before the KO, I have to lean towards Mir being a more effective striker at the moment. Nogueira was certainly on fire and looked great on the feet against Randy Couture, but against Cain Velasquez, Nogueira was beaten to the punch in the exchanges and outstriked on route to a KO victory by Velasquez. The way the standup went with Nogueira and Velasquez was similar to the Nog-Mir 1 battle. Mir in the first bout was landing first in all exchanges and being very aggressive from the get-go. Nog can be a slow starter, but based on the last fight I have to give a striking edge to Mir.

WRESTLING

Both these fighters can take the other down and land on top position. Whether it be via double leg or single leg, or utilizing a trip takedown from the clinch, Nog can take down Mir and vice versa. This may be a strategy that Nogueira employs in this bout as last time out he was being lit up on the feet. Or it might be a chance for Nog to prove he is a better striker, should he choose to go down that road of redemption. But wrestling wise they’re pretty even and can both defend and score a takedown at different periods of this fight.

GRAPPLING

Should this fight hit the ground it’d be a treat to watch. Two of the best BJJ players at heavyweight in the world of MMA going at it on the ground could make for some compelling action. When these two are at their best they provide some very beautiful and intricate technique done flawlessly. Mir is a very quick technician and can even make the biggest drunkards in the UFC audience halt their insta-booing once the fight hits the mat with his cat like Jiu-Jitsu reflexes transitioning from sub to sub. But as good as these two are on the ground offensively, they are just as strong from a defensive point of view and could neutralize one another. You might see some ground and pound being peppered from the top opponent but as far as actually scoring a submission on the other fighter, it’s not likely. Mir has shown some unbelievable creativity and quickness in making less talented grapplers submit in the cage, but with Nogueira it’ll be hard to pull off some of the ground wizardry he has put together in the Octagon. It’s going to be somewhat of a stalemate in terms of tapping each other on the ground.

WHO WINS?

I think the revenge factor for Nogueira will help him out in this fight. He’s motivated to come back from poor outing versus Mir and also a tough loss to Cain Velasquez. I think Nogueira will pull off this fight by fighting hard and finishing strong in rounds 2 and 3. He can be a slow starter but as the fight goes on I think Nogueira will be able to use some of his wrestling and ground and pound and generally be a tougher fighter in the latter stages of the bout. He has been known to be an ironhorse and incredible tough and I think that intestinal fortitude will help him gain and edge as this battle progressively becomes more grueling. Mir is a fast starter, Nog is not. Mir could take the first stanza, but rounds 2 and 3 are Nogueira’s.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira wins via decision, 29-28 on all 3 scorecards