Poor Minotauro…
Posted by Marc Staehling on April 2nd, 2008
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Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira is a legend in the sport of MMA. He was a legend even before he signed with the UFC, and was introduced to the American fans at UFC 69 in Houston, Texas last April. His list of victories before arriving Stateside is a who’s who of top fighters in the sport. Just as impressive as who he beat, is how he beat them. Submitting the likes of Dan Henderson, Mirko Filipovic and Heath Herring, not to mention the arm-bar victory over Bob Sapp which is still one of the most incredible fights of all time. He has displayed more heart than arguably any fighter ever, coming back from the brink of defeat on numerous occasions.
In his first bout in the UFC, Nogueira dominated old foe Heath Herring, despite nearly getting decapitated by a high-kick in the first stanza. At the time, Randy Couture, Andrei Arlovski and Mirko Crocop were all under contract, and rumours swirled about the possible signing of Russian juggernaut Fedor Emelienanko, the only man who truly has Minotauro’s number. Since then, Arlovski is in limbo, and won’t even sign with the UFC until he can test the free-agent waters, Mirko Crocop has headed back to the safer waters of Japan where he can beat up 190 lb. Pancrase mid-carders, and Randy Couture has “resigned” in what was the biggest, and most disappointing news-story of last year.
What does Nogueira do? He goes in there and proceeds to have a fight of the year candidate with oft-maligned Tim Sylvia, winning the “interim” title, and becoming the only man ever to hold world titles in both Pride and the UFC. Oh yeah, since the loss, Sylvia has parted ways with the UFC as well. So now Nogueira, undoubtedly the 2nd best heavyweight in the world is left in a thin UFC division.
Don’t get me wrong, I’ve got nothing against a long Minotauro title-run, but I’d much rather see him face the best in the world, something he’s been doing consistently for his entire career. If you forget about the fact that Fedor beat Nogueira twice, and look at who they’ve fought and defeated over the years, Nogueira’s record is just as good, if not more impressive. He has wins over Sylvia, Barnett, Werdum, Kharitonov and Rodriguez. Fedor hasn’t fought one of them.
Minotauro came to the UFC to fight the best. He wants to fight “Handy Couture”. Sadly it doesn’t look like his wish is going to come true.
The best heavyweight fight of the year ‘06
July 22nd, 2008 at 8:17 am
[...] Randy does go on to say that whoever loses the decision might take it to Supreme Court, but this has to be seen as a positive step as far as this whole debacle is concerned. I for one think ‘Minotauro vs. ‘The Natural’ is just as compelling a match-up as the Emelianenko fight. Couture’s “Fedor-only” approach is a bit of a slight to a guy with a resume like Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. [...]