Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on Brendan Schaub: 'I'll Submit Him'

[WrestlingSmarks News]

Former Pride and interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira will be making his long-awaited comeback at UFC 134 in Brazil against Brendan Schaub. During his long layoff he had surgery on a knee and both hips, but is back to full training and excited to get the chance to fight in front of a Brazilian crowd. Tatame caught up with him to ask him about the fight, his health, and a few other things. First and foremost, what took so long to announce the fight?

We were waiting for the doctor to say I was good to go. I met him this week, I’ve asked the guys from UFC to wait a little longer (to tell that I’d be fighting in Rio), to check if I would have conditions to do actually do it. The doctor told me I’m ok, asked me to start training and he’ll be side by side with me until the bout, to check how I’m doing. I’m coming back after over a year without fighting, doing my trainings and regaining speed, but I’m feeling fine. I’m not 100% yet. The problem is my conditioning, because I’m completely healed from my injury.

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Could just be the translation, but that doesn't sound too convincing to me. Another question soon after sort of heightens my suspicions on this topic:

Your greatest motivation is to be fighting in Rio de Janeiro?

Absolutely. I speed things up on my healing process because of this bout. I’ve focused on what I would need so that I could fight in Rio. I’ve never fought in Brazil. It’s a dream come true, fighting where I live, in my home. It’ll be nice, exciting. Representing Brazil will be cool.

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Again it could be the translation, but how do you speed up the healing process? It almost sounds like he won't be 100% ready to go come August, but he's taking the fight because it's a once-in-a-lifetime opportunity. Hmm. Anyway, he then moved onto the topic of his opponent:

I’ll do my homework and watch his bouts. He’s a good boxer, uses the distance, but I’m prepared to strike. I won’t keep trying to take him down all the time. I’ll try to do my best, no matter where things are. I’m not worried about him. I want to be at my best, in a good shape, because I believe in myself. I want to be focused in being in my best shape ever. He’s a tall and thin guy, knows how to deal with the distance, he’s a good wrestler, he punches hard, but I’ll really go for it.

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After some discussion of the matchups his teammates (Junior dos Santos and Anderson Silva) are facing, he gave a bold prediction for his own fight:

Among the confirmed bouts, which one do you believe that will be the best of the night?

It’ll be mine. I’ll submit him. It’ll be a good bout. He (Schaub) is a warrior. It’ll be a pretty busy fight for the heavyweight division.

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As a Nogueira fan, I hope he's 100% at UFC 134 and puts on a great show against Schaub. This particular interview doesn't give me much faith in that fact though.