Rodrigo Minautauro Nogueira is scheduled to face Stefan Struve at UFC 190, in Rio de Janeiro, on August 1.
The card will be headlined by the female bantamweight title fight between Ronda Rousey and Bethe Correia.
If he beats Struve, Minotauro wants one more go at Mirko Cro Cop. The Brazilian submitted the Croatian by armbar after having taken a heavy beating on the feet in the first round. The fight happened in Pride in 2003.
In an interview with Sherdog.com, Nogueira has stated that his best moments of his career were against Bob Sapp and Mirko Filipović, both matches he won under Pride.
Cro Cop beat Gabriel Gonzaga by TKO in his last UFC fight and looked great.
Minotauro told Combate:
“We will see, I’ll keep going as long as my body can take it”, “I’m focused on my next challenge, but the Cro Cop fight is something I would really like to do. Here in Brazil or in Japan. I think it would sell really well, everyone would like to see it. In Japan it would be a great main event for the Saitama Super Arena”.
Minotauiro will be preparing for Struve by training at American Top Team to practice with tall partners.
“They have three big guys over there I can train with, especially my wrestling. I’m also bringing two guys from Brazil who will help with my striking, they are also tall. I have also faced some pretty tall guys before, like Semmy Schilt, so I have that going for me”.
Watch the fight:
