Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira is headed to the UFC, according to his twin brother, former UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira.
"[The UFC] already talked to him, they're dealing with my brother, so for sure he's coming to the UFC," Rodrigo said Tuesday in a media call. "You going to hear that. They're almost closed the deal. There's just some things – but he's coming to the UFC. He's here for sure."
Fighting for the UFC has been a long time coming for Rogerio (17-3), who has defeated the likes of Kazushi Sakuraba, Dan Henderson, Alistair Overeem and Vladmir Matyushenko during stints with PRIDE and Affliction.
With the expected signing of Rogerio and the most recent addition of Matyushenko, the UFC has essentially acquired exclusive contracts with all the top light heavyweights in the world with the exception of the new Strikeforce champion Gegard Mousasi.
Rogerio was scheduled to fight the semi-retired Alex "The Brazilian Killa" Stiebling on the star-studded Bitetti Combat card on Sept. 12 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. That fight has been called off.
