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Antonio Rogerio Nogueira

The Nogueira brothers are one of the most unfair things to happen to mixed martial arts: A pair of identical Brazilian twins, both outstanding boxers and grapplers, both virtually indestructible and inexhaustible in their prime, both #2 in their respective divisions, both indistinghuishable save for different middle names, an inch of height and a scar. Apocryphally, Rodrigo was late arriving at a Pride event thanks to the heavy Saitama traffic, and Rogerio took his place during the traditional introductory fighter lineup to start the show--and no one noticed, because really, how could you?

Given that he was an inch shorter and a year later in starting his career, Rogerio agreed to take the lighter path--where Rodrigo was a heavyweight, Rogerio was a middleweight, fighting at 205 and below. Much like his brother he achieved instant success in the sport, storming 11 of his first 12 fights with victories over champions like Tsuyoshi Kohsaka, Guy Mezger, Kazushi Sakuraba, Alex Stiebling, Alistair Overeem and Dan Henderson. As a testament to the pace and talent of the division, despite being just as talented a fighter as his brother, most of Rogerio's fights went to decision. His win over Henderson got him into the quarterfinals of the 2005 Middleweight Grand Prix and set up maybe the greatest chapter in the Chute Boxe/BTT rivalry: Minotouro vs Shogun.

It's one of the greatest fights in the history of the sport, the first round in particular. Its legacy is so thoroughly cemented that the UFC put on a rematch a full decade later, with both men considerably older, slower, more broken-down and coming off one-minute knockout losses--and it still captured the imagination of the fans, and still wound up far better than it had any right to be. Their Pride fight was remarkably close, and Rogerio could have easily won its decision--easily gone on to be the Grand Prix champion. Unfortunately, his career mirrored his brother's, and he was always the Pride bridesmaid, right down to being shockingly knocked out by then-unknown Rameau Thierry Sokoudjou on the penultimate Pride event in one of the biggest upsets in the history of the sport.

Rogerio didn't go anywhere, though: He fought for Sengoku and Affliction before signing with the UFC in 2009, and he's been a mainstay of its light-heavyweight division for seven years, perennially on the cusp of contendership, always turned away by its top ranks. Even now, entering his forties and in his sixteenth year of fighting, Rogerio is 22-8, and seven of those losses came against world champions--and the odd one out there is Anthony Johnson, one of the scariest men in mixed martial arts history. Rogerio never quite achieved the championship fame of his brother, but he's been a contender across two decades of fighting history, and that's damn near unheard of.

Moveset, stats, logic and four attires (Pride 20 vs Imamura / Pride 29 vs Overeem / Affliction: Day of Reckoning vs Matyushenko / UFC 156 vs Rashad).