Everyone seems to be sleeping on tomorrow's match between the #8 ranked Light Heavyweight in the world Antonio Rogerio "Minotoro" Nogueira aka "Little Nog" and unranked and unheralded Golden Glory fighter Dion Staring at Jungle Fight "Ceara" in Brazil. It didn't even make Leland's excellent Weekend Primer.

That's reasonable enough, its basically a stay busy fight for Little Nog, but Staring is a potentially dangerous opponent with true KO power and Nogueira has been KO'd by a long shot opponent before. His loss to Sokoudjou was possibly the biggest upset in MMA history in terms of betting odds: Antonio Rogerio Nogueira -2300 Rameau Sokoudjou +1350. Don't you wish you had a time machine to drop some scratch on that fight?

Marcelo Alonso of Sherdog has a nice write up on Little Nog's preparations for the fight and Nogueira discusses his opponent and his first time fighting in Brazil:

"I've seen four of his fights," Nogueira said. "He likes to combine low kicks and punches, has a strong right cross punch and a couple of knockouts on his resume. I think he deserves all my respect, but I'm very self confident and well-trained."

The opportunity to fight in his homeland means a great deal to Nogueira (16-3), the 32-year-old twin brother of former Pride Fighting Championships and interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Saturday's fight will be Rogerio's first in Brazil. "I always dreamed of fighting in Brazil and mostly in the northeast, where I was born and have part of my family and friends," Nogueira said. "It's going to be a great dream for me."

But the point I'd like to make is, don't write off Little Nog. He's always fought in the shadow of his twin brother Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueria but a couple of other factors have contributed to his relatively low profile for a top ten fighter.

First off there's that upset loss to Sokoudjou. A 0:23 second KO loss to a totally unknown fighter, it couldn't have been worse for Nogueira's rep. Fortunately Sokoudjou went on to TKO highly ranked Ricardo Arona for his next move so it wasn't a complete disaster, although Sokoudjou's subsequent 1-3 record hasn't helped Little Nog's cause.

Secondly, Little Nog was relatively inactive for a long time, fighting only twice in a 31 month spell between June 2005 and February 2008. The collapse of PRIDE definitely hurt him as much as any fighter.

Thirdly, his twin brother "Big Nog" Antonio Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogeuira has been apparently losing a step in recent years and people are assuming their both old. But that's not the case, both men are only 32, still in their athletic prime. And unlike Big Nog, Little Nog hasn't taken two lifetimes worth of battery, having never been run over by a bus, Bob Sapp, Cro Cop or Fedor.

Lastly, Rogerio hasn't been fighting anyone of note lately. Other than his dreadfully boring revenge win over Vladimir Matyushenko, his opponents since leaving PRIDE have hardly been a who's who of MMA: Edwin Dewees, Todd Gouwenberg, and Moise Rimbon don't exactly light up the eyes of even hardcore fans. Fighting Staring won't help with that problem.

But let's not forget who we're talking about here. The guy is #8 in the world for a reason. He's the rare beast of a fighter who is as serious a threat to win by submission (25%) as KO/TKO (31%). He's also got two wins over Alistair Overeem (one by TKO) and one over Dan Henderson (armbar) and took Mauricio "Shogun" Rua to a decision in an absolute war that could have gone his way.

I'm really hoping Affliction can book him against someone outstanding for his third fight for them (if it happens). In the mean time, I'm wondering what the odds are on tomorrow's fight.