Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira

Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, nicknamed "Minotauro" was born on June 2, 1976 in Brazil.  Weighing a staggering 241 lbs and standing 6'3" tall, he is well known for his proficiency in the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu style of wrestling.  Extremely early in his Mixed Martial Arts career, people nicknamed him "Minotauro".

Ricardo de la Riva Goded trained Antonio in the skills of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu which went on to become a domain that Antonia specialized.  9 years later, with a Judo Black Belt and the Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu certificate under his belt, he made his Mixed Martial Arts Debut.  His opponent David Dodd, an experienced MMA specialist had absolutely no answer to the striking prowess of Antonio and he was felled by the crucifix blow.  His good run continued by defeating Nate Schroeder in World Extreme Fighting Series 7 that took him to the Ring's promotion in 1999 that was held in Japan.  After winning three fights in the final, he lost to Dan Henderson.

Since then, Antonio has fought 23 battles in the ring of which he demolished his opponents 18 times, 2 of those games were either no contests or draws and 3 of the games ended in losses.  There is a striking similarity in all the games that Antonio has won so far.  He does have an impressive Win Ratio of 84% winning 30 games of the 36 he has fought so far. 

2001 and 2002 were momentous years for Antonio as he managed to cling on to the PRIDE crown.  In these seasons, he recorded some astonishing victories over his opponents.  Most notable amongst these was the "Triangle Choke" submission of Gary Goodridge at PRIDE 15 in 2001.  Another submission of Mark Coleman, this time by armbar lead him to the finals of the championship.

In the finals, he took care of Heath Herring, who made his debut that season resulting in Antonio being crowned as the PRIDE Heavyweight champion of 2001.  He successfully defended this title in 2002 by defeating Enson Inoue in a bitterly fought battle in PRIDE 19 Bad Blood.

Antonio's clashes with opponents outweighing him by more than 150 Pounds are legendary.  One such battle was with Bob Sapp.  Suffering heavy knocks from the start of the match, Antonio went on to defeat Bob using his armbar submission. 

In 2003, Antonio lost to Fedor Emelianenko in the PRIDE 25 Body blow due to an unanimous decision favoring Fedor.  This was an aberration, as Antonio claimed victories over Heath Herring, Hirotaka Yokoi, Sergei Kharitanov and others by employing his trademark armbar submissions and triangle chokes.  A no contest with Fedor due to an accidental cut in August 2004, meant Antonio took on Fedor in the PRIDE Shockwave 2004 to stake his claim as a PRIDE Champion.  Intense fighting with Fedor and a few tactical mistakes made by Antonio saw him lose this one as well. A split decision against Josh Barnett that went against him saw him lose this PRIDE Final as well.

This season has started off well for Antonio with victories over Josh Barnett and Heath Herring.  Time will tell if Antonio would be crowned the PRIDE Champion this season.