Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira will be honored as the 2023 Forrest Griffin Community Award winners during the UFC Hall of Fame, while Bellator: Dublin lands several new matches.
Nogueira Brothers To Be Honored
Inside the Octagon, brothers Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Antonio Rogerio Nogueira were as tough as they come. The former UFC fighters, though, have done even more outside of the sport.
During the upcoming UFC Hall of Fame and International Fight Week event in Las Vegas, the two will be honored as the 2023 recipients of the Forrest Griffin Community Award winners.
The honor goes to UFC athletes for their exceptional volunteer and charity work and the meaningful impact their efforts have on the community. UFC president Dana White personally selects the award recipient and $25,000 is donated to the charity of their choice.
“The Nogueira Brothers have been amazing role models for giving back to their communities in Brazil and have made a positive impact on the lives of thousands of kids throughout the country,” White said. “It will be an honor to present them with this award as part of the UFC Hall of Fame Induction Ceremony.”
In 2007, the Nogueira brothers visited Cuba to train at a boxing academy, and they observed that the country had a culture of using combat sports training to motivate and inspire young people to overcome disadvantages.
The siblings returned to Brazil and officially launched their charity in 2010, with the mission and goals of providing opportunities for teaching and improving the sport of mixed martial arts by training children, adults, and the elderly who reside in Brazil’s most under-resourced communities. Their organization emphasizes the importance of education and making their students black belts both in life and sports – teaching the values of martial arts as a tool for transformation and social inclusion.
An eighth location will open in June with will provide programming, food, clothing and more to an additional 3,000 students.
Bellator: Dublin Fight Card Lands New Bouts
New matches have been made official for the return of Bellator to Dublin later this year.
The event, set for September 23 from the 3Arena, will feature Johnny Eblen defending his middleweight title against Fabian Edwards.
Added by officials to the card recently are bouts pitting Brian Moore against Otto Rodriguez and Mads Burnell against Daniel Weichel.
Moore, a native of Ireland, will be moving up to the featherweight division as he looks to score his 17th career victory over Rodriguez, who is 13-1 overall and riding a 12-fight win streak.
Burnell, a native of Denmark who is ranked sixth at featherweight, will take on Weichel, who enters ranked 10th. Burnell is 17-5 overall and Weichel owns 42 career wins with this marking his 18th appearance inside the Bellator cage.
BELLATOR DUBLIN: EBLEN VS. EDWARDS
SHOWTIME
May 12 — 9 p.m. IST/4 p.m. ET/1 p.m. PT
Middleweight World Championship: C-Johnny Eblen (13-0) vs. #1-Fabian Edwards (12-2)
Featherweight Bout: Brian Moore (16-9) vs. Otto Rodrigues (13-1)
Featherweight Bout: Mads Burnell (17-5) vs. Daniel Weichel (42-14)
