ANT’S NO QUITTER

Nogueira back with vow

BRILLIANT Brazilian Antonio Rogerio Nogueira has put all thoughts of retirement aside as he returns to the octagon after a 22-month absence.

The 42-year-old faces Sam Alvey at UFC Fight Night 137 in Sao Paulo, in the early hours of Sunday.

Nogueira, back after injury and a sixmonth suspension after a failed drugs test, says he plans to carry on fighting.

His twin brother Antonio Rodrigo retired three years ago, aged 39, and Nogueira has recently seen other, younger fighters retire.

Battle

But he said: “I think I can perhaps fight on for another one or two years. We will just have to wait and see.

“Randy Couture was 46 when he retired and Dan Henderson was around the same age. So I feel I can continue as long as I can train and fight well.”

He hasn’t fought since losing to Ryan Bader in November 2016 and has since had a long and expensive battle to prove he did not take drugs.

He eventually proved that he had failed the drugs test after taking a tainted substance and is now ready to re-launch

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his light-heavyweight career. Nogueira (22-8 MMA, 5-5 UFC) said: “It’s difficult to get back to training hard. But the process is good because I love to fight.

“I’ve been fighting for almost 20 years. I’ve had a lot of good fights and I think that it’s time to see how I’m going to fight my next one.

“That fight is going to be very important to see how my body works plus my timing, my speed and my mind – so let’s see.”

He will have his work cut out against 32-year-old Alvey (33-10 MMA, 10-5 UFC) who goes into the fight on the back of two straight wins.

Londoner Jimi Manuwa was due to headline the Sao

Paulo bill against Thiago Santos but has pulled out through injury.

Santos will now meet fellow middleweight Eryk Anders in a light-heavyweight bout.