Minotauro’s Gutsiest Performances

What awaited Nogueira next was the worst beating of his career and one of the few times he was unable to snatch victory from the jaws of defeat. In the first defense of his Pride Fighting Championships heavyweight title, he faced Russian fighter Fedor Emelianenko. Although Emelianenko was considered an unproven commodity at the time, with just two wins in Pride, he’d enjoyed a successful run in Rings, winning that promotion’s final two tournaments.

Fedor proved to be the antidote to Minotauro’s poison, as he defended numerous submission attempts and landed vicious punches to the face inside the Brazilian’s open guard. After a 20-minute battle of epic proportions, Emelianenko snatched the championship from Nogueira in a unanimous decision.

What most people do not know is that Minotauro fought that night with a sciatic nerve contusion. Those who have experienced that sort of injury know it causes extreme pain, from the lower backbone all the way down to the legs. Nogueira could hardly walk on his way to the arena and had to get painkiller injections in order to fight. A lesser fighter might have cancelled the bout.

The opponent who came closest to knocking out Nogueira during his stint in Pride was Croatian kickboxer Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic. The two collided in November 2003 for the interim heavyweight championship after Emelianenko broke his thumb and was unable to defend his belt. “Cro Cop” carried an unbelievable amount of momentum into the bout, as he had reeled off six straight wins, four of them by first-round knockout. The former law enforcement officer had brushed aside Sapp and Heath Herring -- both former opponents of Nogueira -- and the once scary and dangerous Igor Vovchanchyn.

When the two faced off, Cro Cop controlled the stand-up exchanges, peppering Nogueira with punches and other strikes, while effortlessly stuffing the Brazilian’s takedown attempts. Filipovic’s punishing kicks to the body and head had the Brazilian bleeding from the nose early in the first round.

At the end of the first 10 minutes, Cro Cop landed his patented left high kick, which knocked down Nogueira and forced him into survival mode. Fans and experts still argue about what might have happened had Minotauro not been saved by the bell moments later.

That set the stage for another one of Nogueira’s unbelievable comebacks. Undeterred by countless unsuccessful takedown attempts in the first round, Minotauro shot in for one more double leg, which he completed. From there, Cro Cop was in his world. Filipovic was quickly mounted, softened up with punches and eventually put away with an armbar during a scramble.

Three years and eleven fights passed until the likeable Nogueira finally moved his act stateside. For his UFC debut, matchmaker Joe Silva picked Herring as the opponent. Nogueira and the “Texas Crazy Horse” had already traded leather twice inside the Pride ring, and their first encounter remains one of the best heavyweight fights of all time.

Even though Herring was an opponent he knew inside and out, things did not go as planned for Nogueira at UFC 73. The proud Texan caught him with a huge head kick that left him momentarily stunned. Herring, however, inexplicably failed to follow-up and allowed Nogueira to recover. The Brazilian outboxed and outworked him in the later rounds en route to a unanimous decision. In anyone needed more proof regarding his toughness, this was it.

Nogueira’s stiffest test took place outside of the ring, however. At age 9, he was run over by a truck while playing in the streets. The near-fatal accident left him in a coma for almost a month and cost him a rib and parts of his liver. A large scar on his lower back remains visible to this day.

During the 11 months he spent in the hospital, it appeared likely he would end up in a wheelchair for the rest of his life. If someone had told his family that Nogueira would overcome his injuries and go on to become one of the greatest mixed martial artists in history, they might have considered it a cruel joke.

Still, Minotauro pulled through, and, upon entering high school a couple of years later, he took up boxing and jiu-jitsu and laid the foundations for what he has become -- quite simply the gutsiest fighter in MMA.