Sherdog reported Saturday that while the bout has not been signed, the two fighters have verbally agreed to move forward with the fight. MMAWeekly.com was first to report that Couture agreed to the fight.
Couture had previously turned down the fight on at least two other occasions. The most publicized was when Couture left the UFC late 2007 to pursue a fight against Fedor Emelianenko instead of Nogueira. Earlier this year, Couture turned down the fight for elbow surgery as well as for his Hollywood endeavors.
Couture and Nogueira are coming off losses as champions coming into the 4-man tournament to crown an undisputed UFC heavyweight champion. Couture dropped the belt to Brock Lesnar this past November at UFC 91 and Nogueira lost the interim title to Frank Mir at UFC 92 last December. Mir and Lesnar will meet at UFC 98 in July to unify the titles.