In the midst of MLB free-agency, UFC veteran Ryan Bader is one-fight away from testing his value on the open market, he could also be one win away from earning a title fight as he prepares to face Antonio Rogerio Nogueira in the main event of UFC Fight Night 100 in Sao Paulo Brazil.

Which way things break for the 33-year-old will be a matter of the outcome on Saturday night.

“We’ll see, I’ve been in this position before, had some wins, so we’ll have to see,” Bader told TSN.ca.  “This is the last fight on my UFC contract, so we’ll have to get with the UFC and see what they want to do from here.”

With six weeks notice, Bader will be stepping into the main event in Sao Paulo for an injured Alexander Gustafsson, who pulled out of the fight in early October with a back issue.

This will be the second meeting between Bader and Little Nog, the fighters met at UFC 119 with the Reno, Nevada native earning a convincing unanimous decision victory.

With six years and nine victories between those fights, agreeing to this bout is a great chance for Bader to take stock of how his skills as a mixed martial artist have evolved.

“I’ve never had a rematch so it’s intriguing to me, one big thing is to see how far I’ve come from that last fight where I was purely a wrestler and didn’t really know much in the standup department besides throw an overhead right,” said Bader.   “For me it’s a good gauge of how far I’ve come in that time.  I feel like I’ve progressed more than he has and so it was intriguing for me.”

His last outing was a highlight reel, knee to the forehead knockout victory over Ilir Latifi, an impressive finish to bounce back with after a five fight win streak breaking loss to Anthony Johnson.

“Felt awesome and it had been a while since I got a stoppage so to not only get a stoppage but to get one like that, walk off KO, was pretty cool, knowing I could do that still and everything that comes along with it is a great feeling, “ said Bader

He credits that great feeling to finally letting go of the stress related to perfection and instead allowing himself to just fight in the cage.

“I brought a different mentality into that fight, I was loose, I wasn’t fighting a certain way just open and I fight the best when I’m fighting that way,” said Bader.  “Coming off a loss, I put a lot of pressure on myself, I was on a five fight win streak I was just trying to keep it alive and taking less risks. So I’m making it fun again and opening up more.”

Back to the title shot, Bader has been close in the past and has history with both men fighting for the light heavyweight belt in Toronto at UFC 206.

He suffered a first round defeat to Johnson in January and had a media conference altercation with Daniel Cormier, who he was supposed to face at Fight Night 68.

So who does Bader think is leaving Toronto with the gold?

“Anthony Johnson has the heavy hands and could knock you out at any moment, but I have to go back, if they fought already I have to go back to that so I’ll give the slight edge to Cormier since he recently beat him,” said Bader.  “I think anytime Anthony Johnson can just come in and hit somebody and it’s all over, but I give the slight edge to Cormier.”