A back injury has forced Antonio Rogerio Nogueira to pull out of his UFC 161 co-main event bout against Mauricio “Shogun” Rua and the UFC is now looking for a new opponent. 
The news of the injury was first reported by Globo in Brazil and has been confirmed from other sources in the mixed martial arts community.
According to a report by MMAFighting.com and Mike Chiappetta, Nogueira suffered a back injury and could be back in 8-12 weeks.
Nogueira (21-5) is coming off the biggest win of his UFC career against former light heavyweight champion Rashad Evans and his fight with Shogun was a rematch from their 2005 bout in Pride.
If the UFC is unable to secure a new opponent for Shogun for UFC 161 in two weeks, it’s likely that the co-main event would be a heavyweight bout between Roy Nelson and Stipe Miocic.
The current UFC 161 card is below:
Main Card: (PPV – 10 p.m. ET/7 p.m. PT)
Rashad Evans (22-3-1) vs. Dan Henderson (29-9)
Mauricio “Shogun” Rua (21-7) vs. TBD
Roy Nelson (20-7) vs. Stipe Miocic (9-1)
Alexis Davis (11-5) vs. Rosi Sexton (13-2)
Pat Barry (8-5) vs. Shawn Jordan (14-4)
Preliminary Card: (FX – 8 p.m. ET/5 p.m. PT)
Jake Shields (27-6-1, 1NC) vs. Tyron Woodley (11-1)
Sam Stout (20-8-1) vs. James Krause (19-4)
Ryan Jimmo (17-2) vs. Igor Pokrajac (25-9, 1NC)
Sean Pierson (13-6) vs. TJ Waldburger (16-7)
Preliminary Card: (Facebook – 6:35 p.m. ET/3:35 p.m. PT)
Roland Delorme (8-1, 1NC) vs. Edwin Figueroa (9-2)
Mitch Clarke (9-2) vs. John Maguire (18-5)
Yves Jabouin (18-8) vs. Dustin Pague (11-8)