Mixed Martial Arts Forum banner

Mir vs. Big Nog on TUF 8

1K views 22 replies 13 participants last post by  Pyros 
#1 ·
http://mma.lohudblogs.com/2008/05/12/the-ufc-and-spiketv-announce-coaches-for-the-ultimate-fighter-8/

The UFC and SpikeTV announce coaches for “The Ultimate Fighter 8?

May 12
The coaches for season eight of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” the most successful original series in network history, will feature two of the UFC’s all-time top heavyweights. Interim UFC heavyweight champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, will star in the new season featuring light heavyweights (205 lbs) and lightweights (155 lbs) premiering Wednesday, September 17 at 10:00pm ET/PT. Nogueira and Mir will square off in the Octagon™ for a to-be-announced UFC pay per view event. UFC President Dana White will once again serve as the show’s host.
The Brazilian native Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1), known as “Minotauro” (a Greek mythological creature), is one of the sport’s most successful heavyweights. Nogueira’s incredible career almost never happened as he was involved in a life-threatening accident at age ten when he was run over by a truck in his native Brazil. Fortunately, he survived and avoided permanent damage, thus his mixed martial arts pursuits were not deterred.
He began his professional career in MMA in the United States in June of 1999 with the World Extreme Fighting organization. However, Noguiera truly made a name for himself in the sport when he joined the RINGS organization in Japan and posted an 8-1-1 record from 1999-2000, losing only to Dan Henderson.
Nogueira’s leap to MMA stardom came when he joined PRIDE in Japan and, from 2001-2003, proceeded to defeat the biggest names in the division including Bob Sapp, Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, Enson Inoue, Sanae Kikuta, Semmy Schilt, and avenged his earlier loss to Henderson. A tough loss to Fedor Emelianenko in March 2003 stopped his impressive winning streak, but “Minotauro’s” career rebounded with a close decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez in August 2003.
The defining match in his career in PRIDE came in November 2003 with a memorable victory over Croatian Mirko Cro Cop via submission to gain the PRIDE heavyweight belt. ‘”Minotauro” would go 8-2 with one no contest in the final three years of his stay in Japan, including avenging a previous defeat to another former UFC heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett, with a decision win in December 2006.
Nogueira made his UFC debut in July 2007 at UFC 77 with a victory over a familiar nemesis, Herring, whom Nogueira had beaten three times previously in his career. This past February, “Minotauro’ defeated Tim Sylvia in a stirring comeback via submission in the third round to claim the interim UFC heavyweight belt. The 31 year-old Nogueira lives in Brazil but spends time in south Florida training with the renowned MMA organization, America’s Top Team.
Although he’s only 28, Frank Mir has endured quite a professional and personal rollercoaster ride since his UFC debut in November 2001 at UFC 34. Following a first round loss to Ian Freeman at UFC 38 in July 2002, Mir, a young, highly touted mixed martial arts star from Las Vegas was at a career turning point. Mir regained credibility as an emerging star with an impressive victory over UFC great Tank Abbott in February 2003. That victory led Mir on a journey to the ultimate prize in mixed martial arts, the heavyweight title. Mir defeated Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 in June 2004 in an unforgettable arm-breaking submission that UFC fans still discuss to this day.
In a span of a few months, Mir went from the heights of UFC heavyweight champion to the lows of nearly dying in a grisly motorcycle accident. The severe injuries he suffered in the horrific accident led to him being stripped of his title as he rehabbed his broken leg.
Mir returned to the Octagon almost two years later in February of 2006, but was stopped by Marcio Cruz in the first round. A subsequent decision win over Dan Christison put Mir in the win column once again, but a loss to rising star Brandon Vera put Mir back on the comeback trail. Now, after two straight victories including a first round submission of Brock Lesner, a former All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota and WWE superstar, Mir is ready for another shot at the title.
The eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” goes into production in late May. The entire cast will be announced in early September.
 
#4 ·
I can't wait to wait a year for Nogueira to defend his belt. Hooray.
 
#8 ·
This is one of the dumbest ideas in the history of dumb ideas. This almost rivals the DVD Rewinder.

The only thing this will do is get Noguiera exposure.

Both of them lack personality.
Mir probably won't teach Conditioning
Both are grapplers, Unless Anderson comes in to help Nog's Team

This is probably going to be the worst season so far.
 
#9 ·
Come on, Nog's boxing is good, it's just that he hasn't got enough KO power to go around knocking people the **** out, but technichally his striking is good, also I guess he can bring two coaches like this season, one striking coach, one wrestling coach and Nog the grappling coach :).

I think everybody is going to want to be in Nog's team xD.
 
#10 ·
I doubt that this is a solid source, if it is then that's lame. TUF is keeping the champs tied up for way too long. I would prefer to see Big Nog, and every other champ, fight 3-4 times a year at least. With that said, Mir is definately not the #1 contender at least in my mind. A win over Brock Lesnar isn't that solid of a win considering the stage of his career.
 
#12 ·
#15 ·
Then that means that the winner of Werdum-Vera doesn't get shit, because they still have to win their next fight to get the title shot, just like I said. I think Vera deserves the title shot more than Mir, after he destroyed him in his fight and lost only to Sylvia who was the #2 best HW in the UFC after Nog, there's no shame in that.
 
#17 ·
I wonder if this has to do with the Couture Title situation. :dunno: They want to keep Couture as champ so that even when his contract is up he is still tied to the company and cant fight elsewhere. They had an interim title match in his absence but if they have Nog defend his title then in court it will look like they dont really need Couture as champion. Right now they could argue that Couture needs to fight Nog to unify the belts as has happened in the past with titles.
 
#18 ·
Should have checked here first as I just posted in the UFC section about this. Personally I think this sucks- badly. Yet again TUF will hijack a freaking whole division and a HW title fight won't be fought until sometime next year- yippee. I really wanted to see Werdum(provided he got past Vera) take on Nog.

Honestly the only remotely positive thing about this delay is that more HWs will develope into better contenders or some others will be brought in to shore this division up.(Fedor/Randy/Barnett/etc.)

I just really wish Dana would not stake so much of the UFC on a reality show.
 
#22 ·
I dont see what the big deal is. Sure, he (mir) doesnt really deserve it yet, but hes not the first and wont be the last to be given a shot over those more deserving. It all comes down to money...nobody wants to see Werdum/Nog 2and Vera's drawing power to the casual fan stopped after the lame ass Sylvia fight. Who isnt looking forward to this bjj match?
 
This is an older thread, you may not receive a response, and could be reviving an old thread. Please consider creating a new thread.
Top