Antonio Rogerio Nogueira(22-7 MMA, 5-4 UFC) will be moving from one ranked opponent to another with Ryan Bader(21-5 MMA, 14-5 UFC) stepping in for injured Alexander Gustafsson (17-4 MMA, 9-4 UFC) at UFC Fight Night 100.
Gustafsson’s coach posted news of the fighter’s back injury (via Facebook).
Although UFC officials haven’t made a formal announcement and didn’t return messages from MMAjunkie, Bader retweeted reports, including an initial one from MMAFighting.com, announcing his involvement in the event.
UFC Fight Night 100 takes place Nov. 19 at Ibirapuera Gymnasium in Sao Paulo. It airs on FS1 following early prelims on UFC Fight Pass, though the bout order hasn’t been finalized.
Bader is No. 5 in the USA TODAY Sports/MMAjunkie MMA light heavyweight rankings, and he replaces No. 7-ranked Gustafsson. (Nogueira is an honorable mention and just outside the top 15.)
Bader recently rebounded from a UFC on FOX 18 loss to Anthony Johnson with a knockout win over Ilir Latifi at UFC Fight Night 93 in September, and it earned a “Performance of the Night” bonus. The loss to Johnson snapped a five-fight winning streak for Bader, a 33-year-old who joined the UFC nearly eight years ago after winning “The Ultimate Fighter 8.” He’s now on a 6-1 run.
Nogueira will fight twice in a calendar year for the first time since 2011. The 40-year-old Brazilian vet snapped a two-fight losing skid in his most recent outing, a first-round TKO win over Patrick Cummins at UFC 198. The former PRIDE fighter won his first two UFC fights as part of an overall seven-fight winning streak. But he’s battled injuries and inconsistency since then and is just 3-4 since late 2010.
Gustafsson will have to wait longer to attempt to achieve his first winning streak since 2012. In September, the No. 7 ranked 205-pound fighter scored a unanimous decision win over Patrick Cummins at UFC Fight Night 93.
The latest UFC Fight Night 100 card now includes:
For more on UFC Fight Night 100, check out the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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