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Carrie Stroup here with your Frank Mir vs. Minotauro Nogueira fight odds for UFC 140 this coming Saturday night.
On the main card for UFC 140, Minotauro Nogueira and Frank Mir head into the octagon on a ticket that features the Jones-Machida title bout. Nogueira and Mir were the two coaches for The Ultimate Fighter Season 8.
Both fighters are world class MMA vets and have a history together. Mir took the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship away from Nogueira in 2008 with a second round TKO, but lost the unified title in the next bout to Brock Lesnar. Since the two squared off Mir is 3-2 while Nogueira is 2-1, each fighting a strong class of opponents. Nogueira’s most recent win over Brendan Schaub was an easy TKO, while his win prior to that was over MMA giant Randy Couture. Schaub had just beaten Mirko Filipovic, who Mir had difficulty beating in their 2010 bout. Mir deserves to be favored in this fight because of his prior win over Nogueira, but is receiving too much of the money given the relative equality of the fighters.
Mir is an elite submission artist, with 56% of his attack breakdown coming in that category. The 32-year-old Las Vegas native has improved his striking throughout his career and incorporates a variety of attacking styles into his game – boxing, Jiu-Jitsu, Muay Thai and even wrestling. Nobody questions Mir’s attacking skill, but always in question is his ability to defend opponents. He only avoids 41% of incoming strikes and 44% of takedowns, something his aggressive opponent will look to exploit.
Nogueira has fought twice as many career fights as his foe and is a true veteran of the sport at age 35. Like Mir, he relies on submissions, but less so, only coming in at 48%. His Jiu-Jitsu and boxing skills are among the game’s best, and will be particularly useful as he will need to amp up his striking attack against an opponent who defends poorly against them. Nogueira’s skill set gives him a strong chance to pull off an upset.
- Carrie Stroup, Gambling911.com Senior Reporter
