Is Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira’s reign as a top heavyweight contender finished? After suffering a knockout loss to current UFC heavyweight champion Cain Velasquez, many fight fans believed that it was. A few months later “Big Nog” was forced to withdraw from his rematch with Frank Mir citing a recurring hip injury. Since withdrawing from the fight, very little has been heard from the legend. Now returning from surgery, SanDiegoMMA.net was able to catch up with him at his new Black House gym in San Diego (Black House Team Nogueira), where he spoke publicly for the first time about his health issue.
“This is an injury I have had for about 4 years. For the past 2 years it has been bothering me a lot. I have been training for all the last fights I had, and it was very painful. My last 3 fights were very painful,” Nogueira revealed. “To tell you the truth, when I was training in 2005, I felt it a little bit in my hip but it wasn’t that much. 2006 it hurt me. When I trained for the Couture fight it hurt me so bad, then this year it was impossible for training. After Anderson Silva’s fight when he fought Chael [Sonnen], I was there in the group and from there I had training the next day and I couldn’t walk, so I went to Colorado [to see a doctor]. My physical trainer told me [the doctor in Colorado] was the best hip doctor in the world, Dr. Philippon.”
Dr. Marc Philippon is a Hip Arthroscopy Specialist specializing in Sports Medicine. He is also a managing partner at The Steadman Clinic and is known as one of the world’s leading orthopedic hip surgeons. Nogueira laughed, “He took a look at me and said ‘you can’t fight. You are 40% on your performance.’”
While it is a well-accepted fact in the Mixed Martial Arts community that fighters are never 100% healthy, every one of them strives to get as close to that mark as possible, and sometimes surgery is inevitable.
“I had arthroscopy in my hip, just to clean it up. I had some extra bone, a piece of bone, inside the joint so they just cleaned it up. They tried to fix the cartilage inside the hip to put everything in place,” Nog said of the surgery. “The hardest part is that I got to be out about 6 weeks on crutches.”
Over the last several years, the buzz among MMA fans and media alike has been about the downfall of the legendary “Big Nog.” Even the man himself recognized the change in his capabilities. “I got slow. I couldn’t shoot anymore. You see my fights, normally I go to the ground, but I couldn’t shoot cause my hip was f—ed up. “
With the surgery out of the way, Nogueira faces the new challenges in front of him, including another surgery. “It is in both sides. I did one, I still have to do another one. Another surgery. End of January. The doctor told me you should do one then wait about 2 months, then do the other side.”
Having just completed the first surgery in mid-late December, Nogueria aims to shave a few weeks off of the doctor’s recommended downtime by pushing the second surgery into January. Why go against the doctor’s recommendation?
The answer is simple: UFC Rio in August 2011. “That’s my goal. I even want to fight before that, but to fight in Brazil – that would be awesome. That’s my goal. That is why I tried to do both surgeries close together,” Nogueira admitted.
When asked who he would like to face, Nogueira responded with a smile. “If they give me Brock I would be ready to fight him.”
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[...] an exclusive interview with Dave Franklin of SanDiegoMMA.net, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira gave some insight on his current medical status, 2011 plans and on a [...]
[...] this year it was impossible for training," Nogueira explained during a recent interview with SanDiegoMMA.net. "After Anderson Silva’s fight when he fought Chael [Sonnen], I was there in the group [...]
[...] in action and his desire to face the self proclaimed “baddest man on the planet”.Speaking via SanDiegoMMA.net, Nogueira said:“I had arthroscopy in my hip, just to clean it up. I had some extra bone, a piece [...]
[...] is an injury I have had for about 4 years,” Nogueira told SanDiegoMMA. “My last 3 fights were very painful. I got slow. I couldn’t shoot anymore. You see my [...]