Brendan Schaub is an Arrogant Douche, Part 320

[Turd Ferguson]

Since losing by knockout to Roy Nelson in his UFC debut at The Ultimate Fighter 10 Finale, Brendan Schaub has gone on a four-fight winning streak, culminating in a March knockout of Pride FC veteran Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic.

This summer, Schaub will face another Pride legend in Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, and he believes that a victory over "Minotauro" should promote him to the division's number one contender spot.

"It's the toughest test of my career," Schaub recently told MMA:30 of his bout with Nogueira. "Nogueira's as tough as they come. I think he's the toughest heavyweight in the division. A win over him puts me right in the number one contender's spot and I'm looking forward to the challenge."

"The Hybrid" explained that he is looking to garner the kind of experience that will prepare him for a title shot by meeting the revered Brazilian fighter on home soil.

"The reason I asked for this fight in Rio against 'Big Nog' is 'cause I think it's the closest atmosphere you can get to a title shot atmosphere," he said. "So, for me, I wanna get used to it. It's a great test for me."

Schaub and Nogueira meet at UFC 134 on August 27 at the HSBC Arena.

Alright, let's look at who Schaub has beaten since getting KO'ed into next week by Roy Nelson...

Chase Gormley - Who?
Chris Tuchscherer - Best known for being friends with Brock Lesnar.
Gabriel Gonzaga - Completely unimpressive in victory, nearly got submitted in the last 45 seconds when Gonzaga remembered he was a BJJ wizard.
Mirko Cro Cop - Should have been a first round KO... a slow, plodding, unimpressive showing from Schaub until the highlight reel knockout.

Junior Dos Santos had to essentially clean out the division to get his title shot. He had much tougher fights on his road to the title shot. Furthermore, not to play MMAth here, but JDS pummeled Nelson, who KO'ed Schaub pretty handedly. Beating the ghosts of Cro Cop and Nogueira, an average heavyweight, and two anonymous heavyweights isn't going to earn you a shot. Schaub is at least two fights away if he beats Nogueira, and I don't think he's talented enough to be considered a part of the upper echelon of the division. I think Lesnar and Mir would smoke him.

Do you think Schaub is deserving of a title shot IF he beats Nogueira? Weigh in here.

 

[Fizzy]

Schaub needs at least one more win after Nog to get a title shot. Nog and Cro Cop are both far past their primes and at this point shouldn't be considered quality wins. Schaub is just being an asshole like he is known for doing. He hasn't fought somebody in the top 10 yet and he is campaigning for a title shot? That's total bullshit. If he gets by Nog, he needs to fight somebody borderline top 5 before he can make any claim to be considered for a title shot. If the SF heavyweights merge, he will need another two wins at least before he gets one. A fight with a returning Brock would be ideal or against somebody like Mir if Schaub wins his next fight but until then, he shouldn't be considered.

 

[SalvIsWin]

Obviously not. Schaub is mid-tier, and he'll be elevated if he beats Big Nog, but not that much to be honest. The Lesnar, Mir, Carwin, Valesquez, Dos Santos group of heavyweights are the top in the HW division right now, and you need a win over one of them to break into it as well.

 

[INDYjon22]

Hell no he doesn't deserve a title shot if he gets past Big Nog. Sure, a win over Nogueira would be great for his career and resume, but lets be honest here, Nog isn't nearly the fighter he was in his Pride days. He is still a legend, but legends aren't exactly contenders and Nogueira is not a contender right now. Schaub would certainly get a fight against one of the top guys if he beat Nog, but to be honest I don't think he wants anything to do with Carwin, Lesnar, JDS, or even a rematch with Big Country. Nothing Schaub has done so far has lead me to believe he can hang with the top 5 of the UFC Heavyweight division or even be a champion one day. The fact that he thinks a win over Nog would garner him a title shot is laugh out loud worthy.

 

[The Best]

Nope, until Schaub owns a victory over either Lesnar, Carwin, JDS, or Cain(depending on what happens with the JDS fight), than no. These 4 literally run the division, and as Lloyd said, the first 2 fights were against nobody's, and he also lost to Roy Nelson who JDS wrecked.

IF he beats Nogueira(which I highly doubt will happen), than he definitely would have to go through one of the big-4 heavyweights in the division to be able to move up to the number 1 contenders spot.

 

[jmt225]

I don't like Brendan Schaub. He's annoying and his personality just rubs me the wrong way.

With that said, I don't blame him for riding on cloud nine at this point. I mean, even if these wins were against unimpressive names, the dude is on 4 fight winning streak in the UFC. I mean, no one could have ever saw that coming, probably not even himself.

Besides, if the UFC doesn't bring in any of the Strikeforce Heavyweights... then it would be hard to argue Schaub's point. Think about this, IF he beats Big Nog (which I don't think he will), who else is there to challenge the winner of the JDS/Cain fight? Brock Lesnar is out for the foreseeable future... and that's really all I can say. Frank Mir is the only other UFC Heavyweight on a winning streak, and even he is one or two more wins away before deserving a shot.

I guess the solution would be to match-up Mir and Schaub if Schaub is able to finish off Big Nog decisively and quickly, and who ever wins that fight gets the title shot against the winner of JDS/Velasquez. By that time, we should have a clear indication when Brock will be back, and also... the Grand Prix finals should be around the corner.

So, yeah... I don't like Schaub, but he should definitely be in the title picture if he beats Big Nog. There's just a lack of competition in the UFC Heavyweight division right now.... not really Schaub's fault.

 

[LegendK1ller]

Schaub won't even be close to getting a title a title shot if he beats Nog. He might need another two fights in order to put him there. One of those have to be him beating Nelson, which will not happen. Schaub has beat a bunch of mid-card fighters his past couple fights. Mirko is nowhere near who he was. Gabriel Gonzales is a fucking joke. Fight Nelson, if he beats him, then fight Frank Mir. He won't get passed Nelson and if he does, he most certainly will not get passed Mir.

 

[Uncle Phatso]

Personally If Dana wants to give him a #1 cont. fight after this fight I would be fine with it. He has beaten some large names. Nog would really be a huge stamp in his pasport. But really does anyone think that he would do anything in it to get a title shot?

Really we have people like Mir and Carwin who are real threats to the title. Sure Jds just went 3 rounds with Carwin. But I still think that it was a great fight due to his poor performance with Lesnar. Fuck you could even throw in Kongo. But if he were to face any of the three I could allmost see all of them winning. Carwin would implode his face, mir would break him in half, and Kongo would do somthing. Hell Idk, but I do know he dosen't need a title shot atm. He could be a great fighter for a #1 spot. But he dosen't need a shot just for a win off of an ageing Big nog.

 

[ArcherCC]

Seriously? Beating an aging Cro Cop and Nog makes you number 1 contender? No No Mr Schaub, if you manage to squeeze by Nog, then beat 2 out of three (Nelson, Mir, Carwin) then maybe just then you can get it but first your three fights away.

 

[That Other Guy]

There's no way he should be considered a title contender IF he beats Big Nog. Let's say he does. Then, he should face either Mir, Carwin, or a returned Lesnar. If he wins that fight and there is no better contender for the belt, let him have the fight.

 

[Via Armbar]

What is great about Schaub at this point is even though he might beat Nog there are still better matchups to make regarding the heavyweight title picture and the number one contender scene. Mir is unfortunately making his way up to getting beat by Cain or Dos Santos, Carwin is hanging around waiting to get word on his next matchup, Brock is supposed to be back by Spring of '12 and with the Strikeforce GP in it's final stages look for their heavyweight to start making the trip over. So there are more options really than people are looking and so as far as Schaub getting a title shot, I don't think we have to worry about that for a while if ever.

If he beats Nog he really has no choice but to enter that gatekeeper territory where Kongo and Mir like to kick it. There's also guys like Barry who may not be as highly ranked as Kongo or Mir but have a much better standup game than Brendan and could knock his ass out. I expect the winner of Schaub/Nog to face the winner of Mittrione/Kongo with the winner of that little set to get a number one contender shot against a bigger name. Do we really think Schaub will make it that far? Doubt it.