Mir vs. Velasquez, ‘Big Country’ vs. ‘Bigfoot’ added to UFC 146

The heavyweight card of the year is coming together for May 26 when UFC 146 takes place at MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas. We reported yesterday the UFC had confirmed Junior dos Santos vs. Alistair Overeem would headline the card, now today, the UFC has confirmed two more heavyweight match-ups for UFC 146.

According to UFC President Dana White, verbal agreements are in place for a number-one contender bout between former UFC heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez.

Mir (16-6) has won his last three fights, including a third round knockout of Mirko Cro Cop, a unanimous decision over Roy Nelson and a first round submission of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, becoming the first man ever to submit “Big Nog” in a fight.

Velasquez (9-1) lost his UFC heavyweight title to dos Santos via first round knockout last November. Prior to that he was undefeated with a 9-0 record and eight knockouts.

And if you did not think the UFC 146 fight card could get any bigger, verbal agreements are also in place for a heavyweight match-up between Roy “Big Country” Nelson and former Strikeforce heavyweight champ Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva.

Nelson (16-7) has lost three of his last four fights. His most recent fight was a unanimous decision loss to Fabricio Werdum at UFC 143 in February. Just prior to that he scored a third round TKO win over Cro Cop at UFC 137 in Oct. 2011.

“Bigfoot” Silva (16-3) is making the transition to the UFC from Strikeforce following a first round knockout loss to Daniel Cormier in the opening round of the Strikeforce Heavyweight Tournament last September. Prior to that he had won three straight, including back-to-back knockout wins over Mike Kyle and Fedor Emelianenko.

For the full UFC 146 fight card line-up see our Upcoming MMA Events page.