Antonio Nogueira: Old Dogs Bite Hard – UFC News
By Siri Karri
To veteran fans of mixed martial arts (or at least those who appreciate its history), Antonio “Minotauro” Nogueira (33-6-1) was following an all too familiar trend. Many members of the “old guard”, fighters who lifted mixed martial arts to prominence on their shoulders years ago, are being weeded out by their younger competition.
Mirko Cro Cop, Chuck Liddell, Randy Couture, Andrei Arlovski . . . all were some of the most terrifying fighters on the planet whose careers were ended by a string of devastating knockouts. When Nogueira, a man who was notorious for taking punishment yet had never been finished, was knocked out twice within 3 fights . . . it seemed the end was near. The odometer in Big Nog’s skull had been shook one too many times and it seemed a matter of time before Dana White was going to have the same talk with him that he did Chuck Liddell.
The situation made fans further apprehensive when we learned that Big Nog had rushed a complex rehabilitation process in order to fight in front of the Brazilian crowd and that his opponent would be up and coming Brendan Schaub . . . who had just ended Mirko Cro Cop’s fighting career with a vicious overhand right.
In a way, the fight ended the way we expected. A fighter was left face first on the mat; his expression indicating that while he understood that he lost, he had NO idea what had hit him. The expression we had seen so many times on Chuck Liddell and so many others. Only this time, it was Brendan Schaub who was out on the mat and Nogueira celebrating in the ring. The man with 40 professional fights, who had taken more headshots than a n00b playing Call of Duty, had just knocked out The Ultimate Fighter finalist Brendan Schaub.
In trademark fashion, the faster and younger Brendan Schaub connected several times with Nogueira who shrugged them off in the manner of a rhinoceros getting hit by a ping pong ball. What NO one expected however, was Nogueira to land a blistering left right combo that nearly separated Schaub’s head from his neck. What was happening? Surely, similar to his fight with Randy Couture, Nogueira wouldn’t be able to finish Schaub and he would be forced to take the fight on a round by round basis and grind out a decision. But no, instead Nogueira landed one last thunderous left hook which sent Schaub reeling forward before smashing his face on the canvas.
Sure Cro Cop and even Couture had wins late into their career, but they were “gimme” fights. Anthony Perosh and James Toney? Neither was exactly stellar fights, but simply put in the ring to make old fighters viable in the eyes of less educated fans. Schaub on the other hand, was the real deal. He was big, athletic, a finalist on TUF who had a string of victories ranging from out-gunning Gabriel Gonzaga to knocking out Mirko Cro Cop. Not only did Nogueira beat him but he beat him at his own game: striking.
It proves that instead of delaying the inevitable, Nogueira has proven that he is STILL the real deal and that he has a few quality fights left in him.
No wonder Dana White is talking about a title run.
