Bouncing back after his loss to Frank Mir, Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (32-5-1(1)) defeated UFC legend Randy Couture at UFC 102 via unanimous decision. A fight which earned both men the “Fight of the Night” honors from UFC president Dana White.

Now a report from Sensei Sportv’s blog is reporting that Nogueira’s manager has confirmed with them a bout between his fighter and Cain Velasquez (7-0).

According to Sensei Sportv’s blog, Nogueira’s manager confirmed that the Brazilian will face the undefeated heavyweight Cain Velasquez at UFC 108, which takes place at January 2.

Velasquez just defeated Ben Rothwell via TKO in the second round of their UFC 104 bout a few weekends ago.

Both Velasquez and Nogueira’s names have been tossed around as possible opponents for the heavyweight title. Velasquez had been scheduled to face Shane Carwin with the winner moving up to face champ Brock Lesnar, but Carwin was promoted up to face the champ for the title. That bout had been scheduled for UFC 106 but has since been changed to UFC 108. Nogueira, meanwhile, had been rumored to face the loser of that bout, but will now face Velasquez instead due to the rescheduling.

If the withdrawal of Lesnar from UFC 108 proves to be true, then fans could expect this matchup to co-headline the January 2 show.

The current rumored UFC 108 card appears as follows:

- Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Cain Velasquez*
- Rashad Evans vs. Thiago Silva*
- Junior Dos Santos vs. Gabriel Gonzaga*
- Carlos Condit vs. Paul Daley*
- Tyson Griffin vs. Jim Miller*
- Martin Kampmann vs. Rory Markham*
- Joe Lauzon vs. Sam Stout*
- Dan Lauzon vs. Cole Miller*
- Ryan Jensen vs. Mark Munoz*
- Jake Ellenberger vs. Mike Pyle*

* – Not officially announced

Source: Tatame.com