Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira (; born 2 June 1976), better known as Minotauro or Big Nog, is a Brazilian retired mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), where he is a former Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. He is the twin brother of UFC fighter Antônio Rogério Nogueira. Nogueira rose to prominence in Japanese promotions Fighting Network RINGS where he won the 2000 RINGS King of Kings tournament, and later with Pride Fighting Championships, where he was the first Pride Heavyweight Champion from November 2001 to March 2003, as well as a 2004 PRIDE FC Heavyweight Grand Prix Finalist. He is one of only three men to have held championship titles in both Pride Fighting Championships and the Ultimate Fighting Championship (the others being Maurício Rua and Mark Coleman).
Early life Born in the town of Vitória da Conquista, Brazil, Nogueira started training in judo at the age of 4, boxing at 14 and Brazilian jiu-jitsu at 18. At age 10, he was accidentally run over by a truck and fell into a four-day coma, losing a rib and part of his liver, and was hospitalized for eleven months. As a result of the accident, he has a large scar, including a noticeable indentation, on his lower back.
Mixed martial arts career Nogueira made his mixed martial arts (MMA) debut in the World Extreme Fighting promotion, which often held events in southern parts of the United States. He won his first two fights by submission and then won the WEF Heavyweight Superfight Championship in his 5th pro fight against veteran Jeremy Horn. A few years after his MMA debut, Nogueira started training with the Brazilian Top Team.
Rings
Rings: King of Kings 1999 Nogueira debuted in Fighting Network Rings by taking part in the King of Kings 1999 tournament. He quickly submitted Valentijn Overeem and Yuriy Kochkine before clashing with middle-aged sambo champion Andrei Kopylov. Nogueira avoided a kimura lock attempt through the first round and controlled Kopylov for some minutes, before switching to stand-up in the second round and landing punches for the split decision win. In the next match, however, Nogueira was eliminated by American wrestling champion Dan Henderson in a controversial fight, as it was believed that the Brazilian had controlled the match much more than Henderson.
Kohsaka fight Nogueira's next fight was against Japanese star Tsuyoshi "TK" Kohsaka. The bout was back and forth, with Nogueira repeatedly gaining dominant position and striking with short punches, only for his opponent to consistently reverse him, blocking the Brazilian's takedowns and striking as well when possible. After three rounds, the match was ruled a draw.
Rings: King of Kings 2000 At King of Kings 2000, Nogueira was invited back to Rings. He submitted Achmed Labasanov before facing another Japanese name in the form of Kiyoshi Tamura. Nogueira was able to take him down and threaten him with submissions, but the Japanese fighter kept defending them and coming back at openings. Finally, the second round saw Nogueira win using an armbar.
His third match in the tournament was against another sambo champion, Volk Han, who was almost twice Nogueira's age. Han proved difficult to submit, but Nogueira controlled most of the match. After a flying kimura attempt by the Russian, Nogueira countered with an omoplata/ankle hold combination, until the match went to the judges' decision. The unanimous decision was given to the Brazilian, who advanced to the next round to face Hiromitsu Kanehara. Noguiera won the fight by submission. His final opponent in the tournament was Valentijn Overeem. Nogueira made Overeem tap out quickly and won the King of Kings tournament.
Pride FC
Early PRIDE career and heavyweight championship Following the end of Akira Maeda's Rings federation, Nogueira was signed by Pride Fighting Championships. He debuted in July 2001 at Pride 15, quickly submitting Gary Goodridge by triangle choke. At Pride 16, he submitted UFC and Pride Grand Prix champion Mark Coleman by triangle armbar.
Nogueira was crowned as the inaugural Pride World Heavyweight Champion after defeating Heath Herring by decision at PRIDE 17. The fast-paced bout, which saw Nogueira's superiority at both grappling and striking, was considered by some the best heavyweight MMA fight of all time.
Nogueira next defeated Enson Inoue via technical submission due to a triangle choke and then fought for Antonio Inoki's UFO organization, scoring his first MMA KO victory against Sanae Kikuta.
Bouts with Sapp, Schilt and Henderson Nogueira then represented Pride at a co-promotion with K-1, Pride Shockwave. He was initially offered a kickboxing bout against K-1 fighter Mark Hunt, but he proposed instead to fight two separate matches under mixed martial arts and kickboxing rules respectively, which Hunt refused. Nogueira then to fight another K-1 super heavyweight, former American football player Bob Sapp, who outweighed Nogueira by 127 pounds. Due to this, Nogueira asked for special rules that banned knee strikes to a grounded opponent.Keith Vargo, Courage and Controversy reign at Shockwave event, Black Belt Magazine, January 2003
The fight soon became a brutal exhibition of technical skill against raw strength, as mere seconds into the match, Sapp would stop Nogueira's first takedown attempt with a sound piledriver which almost ended the fight. The same outcome repeated itself several times, with Nogueira taking several powerbombs and heavy punches every time his huge antagonist managed to power out of his submission attempts. At the end, however, Sapp's stamina started to falter, allowing a very worn out Nogueira to mount him and finally submit him with an armbar.
After defeating Sapp, Dutch kickboxing champion and former King of Pancrase Semmy Schilt was his next opponent. Nogueira scored another victory by triangle choke. He then avenged his only loss against Dan Henderson, when he armbarred him in the 3rd round after Henderson displayed great submission defense for the first two rounds.
Title bouts Nogueira's first Pride title defense was against Russian sambo champion and Volk Han apprentice Fedor Emelianenko at Pride 25. Nogueira suffered his second career loss, a judges' decision after Emelianenko dominated the fight with his characteristic ground-and-pound through the guard. In his next fight, Nogueira won a decision against former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez. Though Rodriguez scored takedowns and maintained top position, Pride's fight-scoring was determined primarily by "effort to finish the fight by KO or submission," and Nogueira's multiple near-submission attempts won him the decision victory.
In November 2003, with heavyweight champion Emelianenko unable to fight due to injuries, Pride elected to crown an interim champion, so top contenders Nogueira and Mirko Cro Cop were matched up. Cro Cop dominated the first round with his superior striking and a left high kick which knocked Nogueira down in the very end of the round, but in the second round, Nogueira secured a takedown and rolled into an armbar to submit Cro Cop.
2004 Grand Prix On 25 April 2004, at Pride Total Elimination 2004, the first round of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix was held. Nogueira faced the unbeaten professional wrestler and former judoka Hirotaka Yokoi, whom he submitted with the debut of his anaconda choke. He then repeated the move against Heath Herring in the next round to advance to the semi-finals where he defeated Sergei Kharitonov to again face Fedor Emelianenko in the finals. The fight was markedly different from their first, with Nogueira able to avoid the damage he suffered from ground-and-pound in their first meeting. However, the bout was stopped when Emelianenko suffered a cut after an accidental head-butt and could not continue, resulting in a no-contest. Another rematch was required to determine the tournament champion and was scheduled for Pride Shockwave 2004 on 31 December 2004. In the rematch as in the first bout, Nogueira suffered another unanimous decision loss to Emelianenko after being dominated in the standing positions and being controlled on the ground.
At Pride Critical Countdown 2005, Nogueira defeated Polish Olympic judoka Pawel Nastula by strikes, and following this, at Pride 31 he beat professional wrestler and fighter Kiyoshi Tamura by armbar for the second time.
2006 Grand Prix He then entered the 2006 Pride Open Weight Grand Prix, progressing to the semi-final by defeating fellow Brazilians Zuluzinho and Fabrício Werdum. In the semi-final, he faced the American catch wrestler Josh Barnett and lost a controversial split decision in which many people thought Nogueira had won the fight, as both had landed damaging blows and submission attempts without managing to secure a victory. Barnett went on to face Mirko Cro Cop in the finals, Losing to Cro Cro after submitting to punches and kicks to the face. Nogueira avenged the loss to Barnett with a dominant unanimous decision win in their rematch at Pride Shockwave 2006.
In an interview with Sherdog.com, Nogueira stated that the best moments of his career were against Bob Sapp and Mirko Cro Cop, both matches he won fighting in Pride."10 Questions for 'Minotauro' Nogueira". Sherdog.com 25 June 2009. Retrieved on 5 February 2012.
Ultimate Fighting Championship At UFC Fight Night 9 which took place on 5 April 2007, Nogueira was in attendance and was sitting cage side with UFC president Dana White. It was subsequently announced at UFC 69, by White, that Nogueira had joined the UFC. He was promoted initially as simply "Minotauro" Nogueira, much like the UFC's promotion of Mirko Filipović as Mirko "Cro Cop" and Quinton Jackson as "Rampage" Jackson. In June 2007, he officially left Brazilian Top Team and joined Black House.
His debut in the Octagon was a third fight with Heath Herring at UFC 73, promoted under various combinations of his name and nickname, but was officially introduced to the audience under his full name and nickname. Nogueira once again defeated Herring, via unanimous decision. During the first round, Herring landed a head kick that sent Nogueira to the canvas, in which unofficial judge Eddie Bravo thought the fight could have been stopped. Herring let Nogueira get back to his feet, and Nogueira was then able to recover and come back with a dominant decision victory.
UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship It was announced during the UFC 79 broadcast and subsequent press conference that Nogueira would be fighting former long time UFC Heavyweight Champion Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 for the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship. Nogueira defeated Sylvia in the third round with a guillotine choke to become the Interim UFC Heavyweight Champion. During the fight Sylvia knocked Nogueira down with punches. After pulling Sylvia into his half guard in the third round, Nogueira quickly secured a sweep and attempted an armbar which he missed but immediately transitioned into a guillotine choke as Sylvia tried to regain his feet thus mounting a come from behind victory. Nogueira's coach, Amaury Bitetti, said that Nogueira had trained for the guillotine well beforehand."Amaury comenta vitória de Minotauro ." Tatame. 11 February 2008: n. page. Web. 13 January 2013. <>.