At long last, perhaps a couple fights after he should have, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has agreed to retire from the sport after a back and forth battle with Stefan Struve at UFC 190. For many fans, it is a mixture of sadness and relief.
In celebration, I have sorted through Nogueira’s impressive resume to find the five greatest fights ever.
(This isn’t meant to be a definitive list, rather an opportunity to celebrate this legend’s career. So if you disagree, please feel free to list your favorite Nogueira fight in the comments!)
Nogueira vs Coleman – Who’s the Baddest?
If the only highlight reel of Mark Coleman you’ve seen is of his head kick loss to Pete Williams, it’s easy to forget that in his prime Coleman was a monster. After an unglamorous losing streak resulting from an ACL surgery, a bad decision and a fixed fight Coleman went on an absolute tear in Pride FC. He looked every inch the ground and pound godfather who had won the UFC heavyweight championship four and a half years prior.
The match up was essentially to determine who had the better heavyweight, the UFC or Pride FC.
Because Nogueira is so often on the receiving end of an ass beating even when he wins, it’s often forgotten that he is not a small man. At 6’3” and 240 lbs he dwarfed Mark Coleman and once he secured a clinch even the formidable wrestler had problems. But when Nogueira slipped while kicking, he was in Coleman’s world. The Olympian lay on top of Nogueira and muscled out of submission after submission, never giving up the top position. When he could he would wrench his wrists free and pound on his opponent.
Coleman tried to pass to his right Nogueira slid his left leg over Coleman’s shoulder and locked in a triangle choke. The herculean wrestle r lifted Nogueira off the canvas to try and loosen his legs but only succeeded in further wrenching his trapped arm. Just like that, Nogueira had stolen the fight away.
This win ushered in Nogueira’s reign of terror. He would go on to beat Heath Herring for the heavyweight championship and submit Bob Sapp and Dan Henderson. That run included only three losses, one of which he immediately avenged and the other two which came at the greatest fighter to walk planet Earth: Fedor Emelianenko.
Nogueira vs. Sapp – Nice minotaur, shame if something were to happen to it
Bob Sapp’s name produces nothing but knee slapping laughter today but back in the early 2000’s he was a big deal. Japan always had a soft spot for freak show fights and, with all due respect, Sapp was the king of freaks. At 6’ 4” and 350 lbs of almost pure muscle, Sapp needed very little skill to overwhelm his opponents instead relying on sheer strength and power.
In his third fight ever he was matched up against Nogueira. Now everyone figured this was a mismatch, but what they didn’t expect was that on the first takedown Nogueira attempted Sapp lifted him and piledrived him!
The rest of the fight was surprisingly competitive. Sapp managed to avoid being submitted in the first round and even sprawled a takedown attempt. As he tired, Nogueira’s slow but omnipresent boxing began catching him. In the second round Nogueira finally reversed Sapp with a kimura and sunk in the arm bar for the win.
In hindsight Sapp wasn’t much of an opponent but at this point in time it was a huge deal. Japan was invested in marketing Sapp as heavily as possible and the definitive loss was quite a shock. It was also vintage Nogueira, emphasizing technique and toughness over strength.
Also he survived a piledriver that should have sent him into the Earth’s mantle.
Nogueira vs. Schaub – Old, slow and dangerous as hell
By the time he met Brendan Schaub it genuinely looked like the Brazilian legend was out of tricks.
Besides a one sided win over Randy Couture, the previously titanium jawed heavyweight had been knocked out easily by Frank Mir and Cain Velasquez. Schaub was younger, more athletic and on a four fight win streak.
Schaub’s speed and power advantage was apparent right away; he darted in and out and landed solid pot shots. Nogueira responded by weaving his head back and forth but Schaub adjusted his combinations and managed to tag him several times.
But Nogueira’s chin held.
Nogueira was never a great striker but he had a couple things going for him. One was that as a heavyweight, Nogueira had natural power in his hands. The other was that Nogueira was very good about taking his head off the center-line when committing to power punches. In the final exchange with Schaub, both came into play.
Nogueira backed Schaub into the fence and popped him with a glancing jab before dipping his head. Schaub had been defending takedown attempts all night and instinctively threw an uppercut. Instead Nogueira swayed past it and landed a pinpoint overhand right that put Schaub out on his feet. Suddenly a switch was thrown and Nogueira unleashed a pin point flurry which left Schaub face down on the canvas.
The fans in the arena erupted as folks watching at home shed a tear. The old dog, about to be put down, had some bite left in him.
Nogueira vs Cro Cop – Near death experience? The key word is “near”
There are pundits who will swear up and down that Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic deserves to be considered in the top 3 heavyweights of all time and I count myself among them. Forget Cro Cop ever fought in the UFC; like many Pride FC fighters, he was already waning by the time the time he stepped into the Octagon and no performance could ever do justice to the fighter he was.
In his prime, Cro Cop was the most terrifying striker in MMA and arguably in the history of heavyweights. He had three tools at his disposal: a rib shattering body kick, a ramrod of a left cross and a left high kick which he used to score a mind boggling four knockouts. He would intelligently chain these three seemingly simple strikes to devastating effect.
Hand held near the ear? Throw a left straight to bring it forward and fire a high kick behind it. Is the opponent guarding head shots too well? A liver dissolving kick does wonders in bringing their hands down. Combined with his cat-like footwork he racked up sixteen finishes in Pride alone including a pair of wins over the formidable Josh Barnett (who actually owns a win over Nogueira).
Nogueira spent the first round getting, for lack of a better word, “Cro Cop’d”. Nogueira wasn’t stupid; he kept his right arm out away from his head to brace it against a head kick. So Cro Cop danced around and busted his nose and ribs with straights and kicks until Nogueira’s hands dropped and he got hit with a head kick anyway.
But Nogueira didn’t become famous for being a wuss. Despite absorbing a beating that voided the organ donation sticker on his license, he was still very much alive when the horn blew. In the second round his stupid durability paid off; Nogueira finally got Cro Cop onto the ground and took over. The Croatian titan tried to bridge out of a full mount and allowed Nogueira to slickly transition into an arm bar for the win.
It was a battle that epitomized what was so special about Nogueira.
The man had survived a horrendous beating at the hands of the greatest heavyweight striker of all time only to come back and win. He was durable, relentless and a alongside Frank Mir one of the true pioneers of the heavyweight submission game.
You have no idea how hard it was for me to deny this fight the top spot.
Nogueira vs Sylvia – I am the giant killer
Just four years after his beautiful comeback over Cro Cop, Nogueira entered the UFC looking like a fraction of his former self. He was never the best athlete but in the Octagon he looked slow, plodding and pudgy. He had managed to grab a decision from Heath Herring and, due to the state of the heavyweight division, landed an interim title bid against Tim Sylvia.
Tim Sylvia was large, lanky and didn’t look like he belonged anywhere inside of a ring.
He was also 9-3 in the UFC and 6-1 in his last 7 with two wins over heavyweight great Andrei Arlovski. For all his awkwardness, Tim Sylvia was 6’ 8” with an 80” reach and a formidable opponent for any heavyweight. He also had the unique ability to generate large amounts of power with very little wind up on his punches.
In Sylvia, Nogueira had found a fighter with awkward footwork to match his. Unfortunately, the reach and power advantage quickly established themselves as Sylvia dropped Nogueira with a beautiful left hook-right cross combination.
Almost every takedown attempt by Nogueira resulted in him grabbing onto Sylvia’s leg as the giant smashed away with hammerfists. Sylvia was never the most proficient on defense and kept absorbing solid jabs and lead hooks but it was clear they weren’t doing the type of damage they needed.
At the end of two rounds Nogueira was swollen and bloody while Sylvia was still goofy but still relatively unscathed.
The third round looked to be more of the same until Nogueira did something that only a handful of fighters in the world should attempt: he pulled guard. Nogueira slid onto his back and pulled the gangly giant on top of him where he looked just as clueless but unthreatened as before. Then Nogueira sneakily hooked his arm underneath Sylvia’s leg and flip him over.
On top, Nogueira quickly began passing guard. Sylvia seized the only opportunity he had to stand up only to have Nogueira slap on a guillotine and pull guard.
Sylvia tapped almost immediately.
Watching Nogueira throw his arms into the air in celebration and walk to his corner, his face a grotesque swollen caricature of an already battle worn visage . . . it was beautiful. Too many of Pride’s fighters came over well past their time, too late for fans to truly appreciate them.
Gomi and Cro Cop were too old and slow, Wanderlei too undersized and chinny. In their primes they could have challenged for a title in a heartbeat but they were now used as needle movers and nothing else. But watching Nogueira smile with his mouth wide, blood trickling from his lips nearly brought me to tears.
It wasn’t just a win. It was a statement. Old, worn down and slow Nogueira had strangled the giant and said:
Motherf**kers, at least one of us made it.
Goodbye Big Nog. You are one of the greatest fighters to walk this planet let alone the division. You brought a new meaning to never say die, you were one of the fighters that truly made me interested in this sport.
Rest easy and let other Brazilians continue the fight. You’ve done your part.
