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[Warchief]

Although former WWE performer and NCAA Division 1 national wrestling champion Brock Lesnar has been prominently displayed in UFC 81 marketing materials, it appears the UFC has officially bumped another heavyweight fight into the night’s main event.

Former UFC heavyweight champ Tim Sylvia and former PRIDE champ Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, who fight next month for the UFC’s interim heavyweight title, have been slotted for UFC 81’s main event, according to UFC.com.

UFC 81 takes place Feb. 2 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas and airs live on pay-per-view.

Lesnar, a highly sought-after free agent who inked a deal with the UFC in October, is set to face former champ Frank Mir at UFC 81. The two heavyweights have been featured prominently in recent advertisements for the event — even after the Nogueira-Sylvia fight was made official. However, the Lesnar-Mir fight has been bumped from the top spot on UFC 81’s events page for the first time.

Sylvia (23-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) , who won the heavyweight title at UFC 41 and regained it at UFC 59, bounced back from a UFC 68 title loss to Couture with a unanimous-decision victory over Brandon Vera in October at UFC 77. Nogueira (30-4-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), a longtime PRIDE fighter, made his UFC debut back in July at UFC 73 with a unanimous-decision victory over Heath Herring.

Current heavyweight champ Randy Couture was originally offered the top spot at UFC 81, but the UFC hall-of-famer is currently on the outs with UFC management after what he perceives to be a lack of respect, as well as issues over his pay and the UFC’s inability to sign top heavyweight free agent Fedor Emelianenko — a competitor the 44-year-old desperately wants to fight before retiring from the sport.

UFC 81, which takes place the night before the SuperBowl, features other bouts such as Ricardo Almeida vs. Alan Belcher, Jeremy Horn vs. Nate Marquardt, and Tyson Griffin vs. Gleison Tibau.

Source

[whitey64]

Nog takes this by arm breakage and I am actually looking forward to seeing what Lesnar can do.

[peno]

Originally Posted by whitey64

Nog takes this by arm breakage and I am actually looking forward to seeing what Lesnar can do.

Agreed. I hope Nog just dismantles Silvia. Ya, Lesner has mad potential. Wrestlers tend to transition well into MMA. With his size, skills and physical tools he could give alot of the UFC's current HW's nightmares.

[LethalStriker]

Lesnar/Mir is the fight that'll sell more PPVs but Nogueira/Sylvia being for the title and the two higher ranked fighters should be going on last, so good move.

[FidgitUK]

Good.

I'm really looking forward to seeing what Lesnar can do and I hate Timmy but no way do I think Mir/Lesnar should be above Nog & Tim.

[Metalhead]

Please, no more Tim Sylvia main events.

[BigBanda]

Kinda sad that Brock Lesnar is the real big draw for this ppv, a lot could care less about Sylvia's fight. I mean us loyal MMA fans do of course because Big Nog, but we are going to have A LOT of new fans after this ppv because of Lesnar.

[LookitsLance]

shows the fighters respect that they are going after someone so marketed

[Warchief]

Originally Posted by Metalhead

Please, no more Tim Sylvia main events.

I'm sure most ppl will cheer Minotauro Nogueira, so this is not Tim's main event.

[eazye76]

They made the right move, making this the headliner. It has title implications, and a 5 round fight should not happen before a 3 rounder, imo