Issue 111

The UFC legend and former Pride heavyweight champion talks Brazilian MMA, honor and fighting giants.

Q: Your teammate, Anderson Silva, defeated Vitor Belfort at UFC 126. What do you think about the kick he used?

Nogueira: “Anyone who trains with Anderson knows he uses this kick a lot. He’s stunned me twice with it yet he knocked Belfort out cold. I’ve already seen him trying it out with my brother Rogerio and also with ‘Feijão’ Cavalcante. Anderson is such a special fighter, that’s why he’s smashed UFC records.”

Q: You also convinced Anderson to not retire. Brazilian MMA owes you a lot, not only as a fighter but also as a supporter of talent…

“Anderson was a little discouraged because of his feud with Rudimar Fedrigo [head trainer at the famous Chute Boxe Academy, Brazil]. The doors of Pride were closed to him and he wanted to stop. Nobody talked a lot with each other in Japan, but I had a good relationship with Anderson because he was always very respectful and a true martial artist. We secured a fight for him in Bahia which he accepted. He did this fight in Bahia and then got another in Korea. Then he achieved some in England through a contact of a friend of mine. With such impressive performances, it was then that he was convinced.” 

Q: Anderson said after the fight that Belfort used to train with Team Nogueira but he had broke the code of honor by leaving. Are you still friends with Belfort?

“Actually, I still consider Vitor as a friend. I know his family. Yet when he decided to challenge Anderson he became an opponent of Team Nogueira and we were 100% with Anderson.”  

Q: You say your most important fights were against Bob Sapp and Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic, what have you learnt from each of these?

“Bob Sapp was a guy that nobody wanted to face. Fedor could not face him. Cro Cop didn’t want to fight him. He was a big 375lb black guy with pure explosive power. He could hurt me and I knew it. He had a notion of the ground game so he was not completely unenlightened.

"It was a very difficult fight. Although I won, I wasn’t my best. I had fought in Japan 15 days before yet decided to fly home to Brazil and then fly back for Sapp. I had serious jetlag. Overall it was the pressure of fighting in a stadium of 108,000 people that got to him whereas I was more experienced and remained calm, submitting him in the second round.

"Cro Cop was a guy who was not losing to anyone and Fedor had given up fighting against him twice. I fought him for the Pride interim belt. When I sat on the rope in the interval between the first and second round, I looked over at his coaches and they were all celebrating, thinking he’d come to knock me out. It was then I realized I had a chance. I had trained to run to the right side of him because the guy is a lefty, yet I realized I was running the wrong way towards the good side of his leg [laughs]. I was supposed to go back and try to hit him on the counter-attack but he was too quick.

I had to use my strengths and get him on the ground so I managed to secure the double-leg takedown. When I mounted him I sank my heel in his ass and stretched out his arm for an armbar. That was my most exciting fight.”

Q: Many people say Werdum was lucky to defeat Fedor using his jiu-jitsu, something you were not able to do. What do you think about that? 

“Actually before the fight I talked to some guys who trained with Werdum like Mark Munoz, ‘King Mo’ and Rashad Evans and they told me Werdum was in such great shape. They said that Werdum would win that fight so from what I heard I know it was not luck. Werdum trained and sparred with three top fighters and defeated them all.

It’s difficult for a guy to go three rounds with fresh top guys and totally dominate them. Many people said that I nearly secured the triangle three times against Fedor but he managed to get out of it, yet against Werdum he got caught. Werdum picked the right time.

"Fedor underestimated him and tried to punch at the wrong time without defending himself. When someone tries to get you in a choke, you have to instantly try and get out rather than focusing on punching your opponent but that’s not what he did. Fedor just kept on punching, ignoring the triangle. Werdum showed the strength of jiu-jitsu. You can not waver with jiu-jitsu [laughs].”