Nogueira began his MMA career in the U.S. at the World Extreme Fighting shows. There he faced UFC veteran David Dodd, Miletich Martial Arts fighters Nate Schroeder and UFC/PFC veteran Jeremy Horn (Pictures). 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.
Rodrigo 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 (Pictures).
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) took Nogueira to a draw at the Millennium Combine 3 and Nogueira next appeared in the KOK 2001 tournament. There he submitted PFC veterans Achmed Lebasanov and Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures), advancing to the KOK Finals event.
He defeated Volk Han by decision and submitted PFC vet Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures) with a rear choke. In the KOK 2001 title bout, Nogueira walked through PFC vet Valentijn Overeem for the second time and claimed the championship honors.
He debuted at PRIDE 15: Raging Rumble against the former gatekeeper of the heavyweight division, “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge (Pictures). Mark Coleman (Pictures) was supposed to be his first opponent but an injury forced an opponent change. Goodridge was triangle choked in less than three minutes and once 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 (Pictures) at PRIDE 17.
This was a war and had everything you could hope for in a title bout. It went the distance it was by no means a boring match. Nogueira claimed his title and battled 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 KO Sanae Kikuta (Pictures) and just 20 days later he battled the Maurice Smith (Pictures)-trained giant Bob Sapp (Pictures) at the PRIDE Shockwave show. It was a huge risk but Nogueira is a warrior and rose to the challenge, securing one of Sapp’s giant limbs and tapping him with an armbar in the second round.
From one giant to the next, Nogueira battled Dutch Pancrase fighter Semmy Schilt (Pictures). Surprisingly, Schilt provided less of a challenge than Sapp and was submitted via triangle choke late in the first round. At PRIDE 24, “Minotauro” battled the only man to defeat him in MMA competition at the time, Dan Henderson (Pictures).
Though they fight in different weight classes, Henderson accepted the challenge (in a non-title affair) and gave Nogueira a true test. Dan was submitted for the first time in his career via armbar late in round three.
Nogueira’s ongoing war with Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) would begin at PRIDE 25. The first meeting was disaster for Nogueira as he was dominated by Fedor and was visibly distraught afterwards. Rodrigo “beat” Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) in an odd decision at 2003 Total Elimination show and then submitted Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) in an entertaining battle to end the year.
2004 brought the challenges of Hirotaka Yokoi (Pictures), Heath Herring (Pictures) and Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures) with Rodrigo going 3-0 and only the Kharitonov bout went 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 Noguiera should’ve won the bout but they met for a third time on New Year’s Eve ’04 and Fedor won another decision.
Nogueira faced Polish judo champion Pawel Nastula (Pictures) at the PRIDE: Critical Countdown show last June. Nastula, a first-timer, showed great heart and good instincts. However he could not deal with the frenetic pace of MMA fell to strikes last in the first round. “Minotauro” submitted Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) with an armbar at PRIDE 31 to earn his birth in the Absolute GP.
MARTINS: Wagner da Conceicao Martins, better known as “Zuluzinho,” is the son of Rickson Gracie nemesis Rei Zulu (Pictures). He carries a record of 2-1 in MMA. The gigantic 6-7 341-pound “Zuluzinho” was supposed to have 36 fights with 36 KOs before his PRIDE debut (I recently heard the 36 wins are legit but only four of those wins were by KO).
This man is so big they use a leg blood pressure cuff to take his pressure on his arm. In addition to his street fighting skills, “Zuluzinho” is a purple belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu under Cássio Façanha. He’s been sharpening his striking skills with the Brazilian National Boxing Team and with Ruas Vale Tudo fighter Antoine Jaoude (Pictures), who is a Pan American Wrestling Champion and 2004 Olympic Games veteran.
He was originally scouted by Wallid Ismail (Pictures) for a bout at Jungle Fight but “The Brazilian Bob Sapp (Pictures),” as he’s known, made his professional MMA debut at the Cage Warriors Strike Force 2 show in England representing the Wolfslair Gym.
There he battled another big man, Polish powerhouse Rafal Dabrowski. The first round was a slugfest. They traded heavy blows and midway through the round “Zuluzinho” took the upper hand. Two minutes into the second round, “Zuluzinho” landed a powerful uppercut and Dabrowski’s lights went out.
Martins made his PFC debut at PRIDE 30 against Henry Miller (Pictures). “Sentoryu” came out strong but was on the wrong end of a questionable stoppage. “Zuluzinho” dropped Miller with a series of knees but when Henry shifted from the weight on his back, the ref thought he was KO’d.
Miller seemed to have his head together and was rightfully upset. However the ref was doing his job and quick stops seem to occur more frequently in the PFC now.
His most recent appearance was in a bout at last New Year’s Eve’s PRIDE Shockwave ’05 show where he was stopped by Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) with strikes in the first round.
MY PICK: Nogueira. However he won’t make it look as easy as Fedor did. “Minotauro” will have to work for this one. “Zuluzinho” is even wider than Sapp so it might be tough to get a rear choke on that neck. I still see Nogueira winning by submission. It just depends on how long it takes “Zuluzinho” to run out of gas. Nogueira by submission in the first round.