UFC 190 Post-Mortem: Writing on the Wall

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All legends decline and yield to Father Time.

It sounds as if Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has reached the end of the road after 46 professional appearances and 34 victories, having cemented his place as one MMA’s all-time greatest heavyweights. The 39-year-old suffered his third straight setback in a unanimous decision defeat to Stefan Struve at UFC 190 “Rousey vs. Correia” on Saturday at the HSBC Arena in Rio de Janeiro. Afterward, Ultimate Fighting Championship President Dana White was asked about Nogueira’s future in the sport.

“I love Big Nog. I think everybody loves Big Nog,” White said at the post-fight press conference. “I think everybody loves Big Nog. He’s such a good guy. He’s respected by everybody. He and I actually talked tonight. I’m done. I don’t want to see him fight anymore. He doesn’t disagree.”

Nogueira entered the UFC to much fanfare in 2007, a former Pride Fighting Championships titleholder with a warrior spirit and a proven track record. He was 29-4-1 at the time, with all four of the losses -- two of them to Fedor Emelianenko, the others to Dan Henderson and Josh Barnett -- coming by decision. However, he has won just five times in 11 outings since, with five of his six defeats resulting in either a knockout or a submission. Nogueira has not recorded back-to-back wins since he outpointed Heath Herring on July 7, 2007 and submitted Tim Sylvia on Feb. 2, 2008. The writing seems to be on the wall.

Whether or not Nogueira fights again remains to be seen, as he has not officially announced his retirement. If this is the end, the sure-fire hall of famer’s resume will include victories over Henderson, Jeremy Horn, Semmy Schilt, Mirko Filipovic, Bob Sapp and Sergei Kharitonov. Nogueira will have also beaten six current or former UFC champions: Sylvia, Barnett, Mark Coleman, Ricco Rodriguez, Fabricio Werdum and Randy Couture. White appears to have a life-after-fighting rewards plan in place for the Brazilian icon.

“He and I are going to get together, and we’re going to talk,” White said. “I’m probably going to give him the Chuck Liddell-Matt Hughes-Forrest Griffin deal, bring him in and make him an employee.”

NOT-SO-FRIENDLY REMINDER

Demian Maia shows no signs of slowing down.

The soon-to-be 38-year-old ran circles around Neil Magny on the undercard, as he submitted “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 16 semifinalist with a second-round rear-naked choke and halted the surging American’s seven-fight winning streak in a most decisive fashion. In a fight that was never remotely competitive, Magny tapped 2:52 into round two.

Maia has rattled off three wins in a row since his February 2014 encounter with Tristar Gym ace Rory MacDonald resulted in a unanimous decision loss. Since bowing to MacDonald, he has turned away Magny, Ryan LaFlare and Alexander Yakovlev in succession. The 2007 Abu Dhabi Combat Club Submission Wrestling World Championships gold medalist believes he belongs at the table with the welterweight division’s elite and hopes to be matched as such moving forward.

“Any guy that’s ahead of me is fine,” Maia said. “In reality, I’m not the one that picks my fights. It’s my manager and the UFC that decide that. I’m a soldier. I’m going to fight. Whatever they tell me to do, I’m going to do. I want to fight the toughest guys in the weight class.

“I fought against Rory, and I had a great fight,” he added. “He was almost the champion now. I know I can have a great fight against anyone in the division. That’s what I’m after right now.”

MISCELLANEOUS DEBRIS

Eight of UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey’s 12 career opponents have lasted less than a minute. Bethe Correia became her latest victim in the UFC 190 main event, where she was on the receiving end of a violent 34-second knockout. “Anyone that fights can get knocked out. You can be the best in the world, and you can fall. A fight’s a fight. The fight didn’t end up the way I wanted, but I was satisfied with everything I did in my training,” Correia said ... Following Mauricio Rua’s unanimous decision victory over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the co-main event, talk immediately turned to a potential rematch with Quinton Jackson. “Shogun” welcomed the idea. “I’ll fight him any day, anytime,” Rua said. The Brazilian slaughtered Jackson a decade ago in Pride ... According to FightMetric figures, Nova Uniao’s Claudia Gadelha landed 111 significant strikes on former World Series of Fighting champion Jessica Aguilar in their three-round clash at 115 pounds.

ETC.

UFC 190 “Rousey vs. Correia” drew an announced crowd of 14,723 to the HSBC Arena -- the second-largest audience to witness an Ultimate Fighting Championship event at the venue. Only UFC 153 (16,844), which featured an Anderson Silva-Stephan Bonnar headliner, drew more.

A LOOK AHEAD

Light heavyweight contenders Glover Teixeira and Ovince St. Preux will collide on Saturday, when the UFC train into Nashville, Tenn. Lightweights Michael Johnson and Beneil Dariush will lock horns in the co-headliner. UFC Fight Pass (6:30 p.m. ET/3:30 p.m. PT), Fox Sports 2 (8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT) and Fox Sports 1 (10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT) will carry the UFC Fight Night “Teixeira vs. St. Preux” event.