Sherdog.com Preview: PRIDE Middleweight Grand Prix Critical Countdown
Rodrigo Nogueira vs. Pawel Nastula
Jun 21, 2005
NOGUEIRA: BJJ black belt Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira is a two-time Brazilian jiu-jitsu world champion, the
RINGS King of Kings 1999 tournament runner up, the RINGS King of
Kings 2000 tournament champion the former WEF heavyweight champion,
a 2000 Abu Dhabi Combat Championships 99-kg division tournament
quarterfinalist and a former PFC heavyweight champion.
He trains with Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Liborio, Ricardo Arona, Mario Sperry and Rogerio Nogueira and the rest of the Brazilian Top Team. “Minotauro” is 24-3-1 (1 NC) record in MMA and he’s making his 14th appearance (12-1-0, 1 NC) in the ring of the PFC.
Nogueira began his MMA career in the U.S. at the World Extreme
Fighting shows, facing Marine David Dodd and Miletich Martial Arts
fighters Nate Schroeder
and Jeremy Horn. Rodrigo
defeated all three of them and earned the WEF heavyweight title
against Horn. He also began competing in RINGS events the same
year.
Before he even stepped in PRIDE’s ring he was the RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament Champion and was a decision away from winning the RINGS King of Kings 1999 tournament as well. Nogueira had submitted two opponents (PRIDE veterans Iouri Kotchkine and Valentijn Overeem) and advanced to the final round of the RINGS King of Kings.
He defeated Volk Han by decision and submitted Hiromitsu Kanehara with a rear choke. In the KOK 2001 title bout, Nogueira walked through Valentijn Overeem for the second time and claimed the championship honors.
Rodrigo debuted at PRIDE 15: Raging Rumble against the former gatekeeper for the heavyweight division, “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge. Mark Coleman was supposed to be his first opponent but an injury forced an opponent change. Goodridge was triangle choked in less than three minutes and it again opened the door for Nogueira to fight Coleman at PRIDE 16.
Mark was likely still injured but nevertheless Rodrigo quickly armbarred him and it set up a bout for the heavyweight championship against Heath Herring at PRIDE 17. This was a war and had everything you could hope for in a title bout. It went the distance but everyone knew who had won. Nogueira claimed his title and battled UFC/SHOOTO veteran Enson Inoue at PRIDE 19. Inoue was coming out of retirement for this bout and had not fought in more than a year. He performed admirably but this was Nogueira’s time. Rodrigo triangle choked Enson at just over six minutes into the match.
“Minotauro” made a pit stop at the UFO Legend show to knockout PRIDE/UFC veteran Sanae Kikuta and just 20 days later he battled the Maurice Smith trained giant Bob Sapp at the PRIDE Shockwave show. It was a huge risk but Nogueira is a warrior and shows it every time he’s in the ring.
Rodrigo was able to constrict one of Sapp’s giant limbs and secure the armbar late in the second round. From one giant to the next, Nogueira battled Dutch Pancrase fighter Semmy Schilt. As many predicted, Schilt provided less of a challenge than Sapp and was submitted via triangle choke late in the first round.
Then at PRIDE 24, “Minotauro” battled the one man to defeat him in MMA competition. Although they fight in different weight classes, Dan Henderson accepted the challenge (in a non-title affair) and gave Nogueira a true test. Henderson was submitted for the first time in his career via armbar late in round three.
As of PRIDE 25, Nogueira’s ongoing war with Fedor Emelianenko would begin. The first meeting was disaster for Nogueira as he was dominated by Fedor and was distraught afterwards. Rodrigo “beat” Ricco Rodriguez in an odd decision at 2003 Total Elimination show and submitted Mirko Filipovic to end the year.
2004 brought the challenges of Hirotaka Yokoi, Heath Herring and Sergei Kharitonov and Rodrigo went 3-0 with only Kharitonov going the distance. His second bout with Fedor took place at Final Conflict 2004 and resulted in a No Contest due to a cut suffered by the Russian. There was controversy with some feeling Nogueira should’ve gotten the victory but they met for a third time on New Year’s Eve ‘04 and Fedor won another decision.
NASTULA: Polish grappler Pawel Nastula is a legend in the sport of judo. He is the 1995 and 1997 Judo World Champion and the 1996 judo Olympic gold medalist at the games in Atlanta.
Nastula is a highly decorated athlete and won a World Championship in 1991 in Barcelona; gold medal in Paris in 1997; a silver medal in Tokyo Makuhari in 1995; a European Championship in 1994 and a gold in 1995; a 1996 Principal International Conference medal; a gold medal at the 2002 Czechoslovakia International Conference; a gold medal at the 2001 Warsaw International Conference; a championship at the 2000 Dutch International Conference; a championship at the 1996 French International Conference; and a Polish Judo Championship in 1991.
He turned professional last February, and with his dominance considers his camp the “judo house of the world” rattling off an incredible 316 victories in a row in competition. This will be Nastula’s MMA debut and he has been training at Takada Dojo in preparation for this battle.
MY PICK: Same old story, different athletes. Why do champions from another sport try to come in and fight at the top level in MMA? It rarely works out in their favor. I know there is a lot of hype about Nastula fighting in PRIDE but he has no experience. He may be a judo god but Nogueira refused the special rules and jacket request. This is going to be good ol’ MMA baby and Nastula is in trouble. I feel it will be Nogueira by TKO in the first round.
He trains with Murilo Bustamante, Ricardo Liborio, Ricardo Arona, Mario Sperry and Rogerio Nogueira and the rest of the Brazilian Top Team. “Minotauro” is 24-3-1 (1 NC) record in MMA and he’s making his 14th appearance (12-1-0, 1 NC) in the ring of the PFC.
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Before he even stepped in PRIDE’s ring he was the RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament Champion and was a decision away from winning the RINGS King of Kings 1999 tournament as well. Nogueira had submitted two opponents (PRIDE veterans Iouri Kotchkine and Valentijn Overeem) and advanced to the final round of the RINGS King of Kings.
In the 1999 Finals event, Nogueira battled two more PFC veterans,
beating Sambo stylist Andrei
Kopylov by decision and losing a decision to Team Quest
wrestler Dan Henderson.
UFC veteran Tsuyoshi
Kohsaka took Nogueira to a draw at the Millennium Combine 3 and
Nogueira next appeared in the KOK 2001 tournament. There he easily
submitted PFC veteran Achmed Lebasanov and then armbarred Kiyoshi Tamura in under eight
minutes, advancing to the KOK Finals event.
He defeated Volk Han by decision and submitted Hiromitsu Kanehara with a rear choke. In the KOK 2001 title bout, Nogueira walked through Valentijn Overeem for the second time and claimed the championship honors.
Rodrigo debuted at PRIDE 15: Raging Rumble against the former gatekeeper for the heavyweight division, “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge. Mark Coleman was supposed to be his first opponent but an injury forced an opponent change. Goodridge was triangle choked in less than three minutes and it again opened the door for Nogueira to fight Coleman at PRIDE 16.
Mark was likely still injured but nevertheless Rodrigo quickly armbarred him and it set up a bout for the heavyweight championship against Heath Herring at PRIDE 17. This was a war and had everything you could hope for in a title bout. It went the distance but everyone knew who had won. Nogueira claimed his title and battled UFC/SHOOTO veteran Enson Inoue at PRIDE 19. Inoue was coming out of retirement for this bout and had not fought in more than a year. He performed admirably but this was Nogueira’s time. Rodrigo triangle choked Enson at just over six minutes into the match.
“Minotauro” made a pit stop at the UFO Legend show to knockout PRIDE/UFC veteran Sanae Kikuta and just 20 days later he battled the Maurice Smith trained giant Bob Sapp at the PRIDE Shockwave show. It was a huge risk but Nogueira is a warrior and shows it every time he’s in the ring.
Rodrigo was able to constrict one of Sapp’s giant limbs and secure the armbar late in the second round. From one giant to the next, Nogueira battled Dutch Pancrase fighter Semmy Schilt. As many predicted, Schilt provided less of a challenge than Sapp and was submitted via triangle choke late in the first round.
Then at PRIDE 24, “Minotauro” battled the one man to defeat him in MMA competition. Although they fight in different weight classes, Dan Henderson accepted the challenge (in a non-title affair) and gave Nogueira a true test. Henderson was submitted for the first time in his career via armbar late in round three.
As of PRIDE 25, Nogueira’s ongoing war with Fedor Emelianenko would begin. The first meeting was disaster for Nogueira as he was dominated by Fedor and was distraught afterwards. Rodrigo “beat” Ricco Rodriguez in an odd decision at 2003 Total Elimination show and submitted Mirko Filipovic to end the year.
2004 brought the challenges of Hirotaka Yokoi, Heath Herring and Sergei Kharitonov and Rodrigo went 3-0 with only Kharitonov going the distance. His second bout with Fedor took place at Final Conflict 2004 and resulted in a No Contest due to a cut suffered by the Russian. There was controversy with some feeling Nogueira should’ve gotten the victory but they met for a third time on New Year’s Eve ‘04 and Fedor won another decision.
NASTULA: Polish grappler Pawel Nastula is a legend in the sport of judo. He is the 1995 and 1997 Judo World Champion and the 1996 judo Olympic gold medalist at the games in Atlanta.
Nastula is a highly decorated athlete and won a World Championship in 1991 in Barcelona; gold medal in Paris in 1997; a silver medal in Tokyo Makuhari in 1995; a European Championship in 1994 and a gold in 1995; a 1996 Principal International Conference medal; a gold medal at the 2002 Czechoslovakia International Conference; a gold medal at the 2001 Warsaw International Conference; a championship at the 2000 Dutch International Conference; a championship at the 1996 French International Conference; and a Polish Judo Championship in 1991.
He turned professional last February, and with his dominance considers his camp the “judo house of the world” rattling off an incredible 316 victories in a row in competition. This will be Nastula’s MMA debut and he has been training at Takada Dojo in preparation for this battle.
MY PICK: Same old story, different athletes. Why do champions from another sport try to come in and fight at the top level in MMA? It rarely works out in their favor. I know there is a lot of hype about Nastula fighting in PRIDE but he has no experience. He may be a judo god but Nogueira refused the special rules and jacket request. This is going to be good ol’ MMA baby and Nastula is in trouble. I feel it will be Nogueira by TKO in the first round.
