Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is popularly known as Minotaura and Big Nog. He was born on June 2 1976. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was born in Vitoria da Conquista in Brazil. He started his judo training when he was five. But when he was ten, he met with a severe accident and thus has a prominent scar on his back.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a heavy weight fighter in mixed marital arts. He is currently competing with Pride championships. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is a master in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. He has great striking skills. His height is 6’3 and weight is 231lb. He favors submission victories. He annually trains with Cuban National Boxing Team. He also has a twin brother, Antonio Rogerio Nogueira. Rogerio is in middleweight division. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira trained very hard and when he was fourteen years old, he was awarded with black belt for judo and Brazilian jiu-jitsu. After some years of his debut he started to train at the Brazilian Top Team. His trainer is Roberto Duarte.

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has a superb MMA record. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has 29 wins out of which 3 were via TKO’s, 18 were via submissions and 8 were through decisions. He faced 4 losses and all of them were through decision. There was 1 draw. At Pride championship he has achieved mind-blowing victories over many top fighters. Some of his notable victories were against Dan Henderson, Mark Coleman, Gary Goodridge, Ricco Rodriguez, Bobb Sapp and Josh Barnett. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has faced 3 losses in Pride, two from Fedor Emelianenko and one from Josh Barnett and all of these were through decisions. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s most recent fight was at Pride Shockwave 2006 where he avenged his loss to Josh Barnett via judge's decision. He is popular for his Brazilian jiu-jitsu style.  He has also fought for organizations like RINGS. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is one of the most popular mixed marital arts champion cheered by millions of fans. In June 1999, he won in his debut match with David Dodd at World Extreme Fighting 6, through submission (crucifix) in round 1. It is quite prominent from his record that he prefers submissions in victories. Tsuyoshi Kosaka v/s Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at Rings: Millenium Combine 3 was a draw.

On 9/10/2006, at Pride Final Conflict Absolute, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira lost against Josh Barnett through decision. They again fought at Pride Shockwave 2006. In this match Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira won over Josh Barnett in round 3 via decision (unanimous). Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira avenged for his initial loss.