8 UFC Dream Fights Fans Never Got To See

7. Brock Lesnar Vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

It looked as if Brock Lesnar vs. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was set to happen at UFC 100. That was, of course, until Frank Mir had his say.

At this point in time, Lesnar was the UFC Heavyweight Champion and the hottest star in all of MMA. For Big Nog, he’d been tearing it up in Pride for six years and had the prestigious honour of being the inaugural Pride Heavyweight Champion.

Nogueira debuted in the UFC with wins against Heath Herring and Tim Sylvia, before he found himself defending the interim UFC Heavyweight Championship against Frank Mir at UFC 92 – with the winner of that fight going on to face Lesnar at UFC 100.

To the majority of those watching - and Mir himself later admitted he felt the same - it was going to be an impossible job to topple Nogueira at that December 2008 UFC 92 PPV. In a stunning shocker of a result, Mir got a second round TKO arm break victory that put him – not Minotauro – on a collision course with Lesnar.

Brock would brutalise Mir in their UFC 100 clash, while fans were left pondering what would’ve happened if Lesnar and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had butted heads.

Senior Writer
Senior Writer

Once described as the Swiss Army Knife of WhatCulture, Andrew can usually be found writing, editing, or presenting on a wide range of topics. As a lifelong wrestling fan, horror obsessive, and comic book nerd, he's been covering those topics professionally as far back as 2010. In addition to his current WhatCulture role of Senior Content Producer, Andrew previously spent nearly a decade as Online Editor and Lead Writer for the world's longest-running genre publication, Starburst Magazine, and his work has also been featured on BBC, TechRadar, Tom's Guide, WhatToWatch, Sportkskeeda, and various other outlets, in addition to being a Rotten Tomatoes-approved film critic. Between his main dayjob, his role as the lead panel host of Wales Comic Con, and his gig as a pre-match host for Wrexham AFC games, Andrew has also carried out a hugely varied amount of interviews, from the likes of Robert Englund, Kane Hodder, Adrienne Barbeau, Rob Zombie, Katharine Isabelle, Leigh Whannell, Bruce Campbell, and Tony Todd, to Kevin Smith, Ron Perlman, Elijah Wood, Giancarlo Esposito, Simon Pegg, Charlie Cox, the Russo Brothers, and Brian Blessed, to Kevin Conroy, Paul Dini, Tara Strong, Will Friedle, Burt Ward, Andrea Romano, Frank Miller, and Rob Liefeld, to Bret Hart, Sting, Mick Foley, Ricky Starks, Jamie Hayer, Britt Baker, Eric Bischoff, and William Regal, to Mickey Thomas, Joey Jones, Phil Parkinson, Brian Flynn, Denis Smith, Gary Bennett, Karl Connolly, and Bryan Robson - and that's just the tip of an ever-expanding iceberg.