‘Minotauro’ Nogueira: A Firsthand Account

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Jordan Breen: With Wanderlei Silva having done irreparable harm to his character, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira stands alone as the greatest Brazilian fighting icon of his generation. At this point, Fabricio Werdum’s longstanding and outstanding accomplishments may put him ahead of “Minotauro” on an all-time heavyweights list, and clear liquids in blue vials aside, Anderson Silva is the better historical fighter, but Nogueira is your favorite fighter, your friend’s favorite fighter, your favorite writer’s favorite fighter and your favorite fighter’s favorite fighter. He is a fighting folk hero.

It is instructive to me that Nogueira’s greatest rival is Fedor Emelianenko -- a man he never defeated, a man who took his throne and for years installed him as the second banana in the heavyweight division -- yet in no way is his legacy intimately tied to his losses to “The Last Emperor.” Contrary to them being blemishes on his career, those fights are used to somehow extoll Nogueira’s essential virtues. The first fight demonstrated his otherworldly ability to take punishment and keep trying to win; the second bout ended unceremoniously but was hotly competitive until the clash of heads; and he still fought his ass off in the third fight despite losing to a legend.

Nogueira had a transcendent charisma that manifested through his perilous triumphs against larger, more violent men. The fact he revealed his mortality so often in his fights reminded us of how truly real MMA is, how high the human stakes of prizefighting are and how resolute mortal men can be.

I can’t co-sign on some of his beliefs outside of the cage, but inside of it, Nogueira was a vanguard. Double wrist control from full guard will get your ass beat nine times out of 10, but fighters will use it into infinity because of Nogueira. At a time when many Brazilian jiu-jitsu kings still thought that alone was enough, Nogueira became a fantastic boxer and a competent wrestler. Though it was teammate Milton Vieira who showed it to him, Nogueira single-handedly popularized and disseminated the anaconda choke to the masses in 2004. He was the focal point of Brazilian Top Team at its height, the crown prince of MMA’s true “top team” at the time, with all due reverence to Pat Miletich’s squad. Nogueira not only helped further entrench Brazil as MMA’s torch-bearing nation, but he also tangibly and intangibly moved the sport forward in his country.

Plus, he made “Cro Cop” cry, guys.

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Tomasz Marciniak: I’m sure many of my colleagues will reminisce about how some of Nogueira’s memorable battles brought them to MMA. However, the reality is “Big Nog” didn’t just inspire individuals through a set of circumstances; he inspired a nation’s worth of MMA and jiu-jitsu aficionados.

When he took on Paweł Nastula in the Polish judoka’s first MMA fight, it was literally the first mention I’d ever heard of these “mixed martial arts,” then called “Pride formula fights” by the Polish media. It was also the first time a major TV carrier in this country got behind the sport. This was in great part because a national Olympic hero happened to be the Brazilian’s opponent, but nevertheless, people in the sports mainstream noticed MMA for the first time. Some were put off by the violent spectacle, but some of them stayed. In fact, many great grapplers from Poland, one of the strongest MMA countries in Europe, drew inspiration from Nogueira and his BJJ style when they set out to start their own early schools.

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Piotr Pedziszewski: When Pawel Nastula entered the ring of Pride to make his debut against Nogueira, it was a historic moment for MMA in Poland. Even back then, Nogueira was already a living legend. For me, he will always be one of the guys that made me love the sport, a guy with an amazing story who helped bring high-level Brazilian jiu-jitsu back to the heavyweight division. His fights with Fedor Emelianenko and “Cro Cop” are MMA milestones, and years later, his surprise knockout of Brendan Schaub in Brazil brought true joy to the entire MMA community.

Continue Reading » MMA at its best is about finding a way to outmaneuver an equally skilled and prepared opponent. “Cro Cop” did everything right in preparing for that fight and did everything right for 95 percent of the fight itself. He just made one mistake, and his opponent negated all of that in an instant. That’s MMA in a nutshell.