Former PRIDE and interim Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight titleholder Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira successful underwent surgery last week to repair an arm injury, but expects to get back in the cage before the end of the year and is open to fighting Stefan Struve.

According to a report from Ariel Helwani on Tuesday's (June 18, 2013) edition of "UFC Tonight" on FUEL TV, Nogueira's surgery to fix ligament damage suffered in his second-round submission loss to Fabricio Werdum at UFC on FUEL TV 10 was a "big success" and the 37-year-old plans to return to training in August.

Despite going under the knife for an arm injury for the second time in as many years, "Minotauro" is apparently in high spirits and already has an opponent in mind for his next fight.

His name? Stefan Struve.

"Skyscraper" has expressed interest in fighting the Brazilian legend on Twitter over the past few weeks, and apparently Nogueira has taken notice.

Struve is coming off a vicious third-round knockout loss to Mark Hunt at UFC on FUEL TV 8 last March and has been unable to compete since because of a severely broken jaw suffered at the hands of "The Super Samoan."

While UFC officials have yet to comment on whether or not such a match up would fit into its plans, Nogueira is more than down and already has a message for the towering Dutchman.

"The bigger they are, the harder they fall."