‘Minotauro’ Nogueira “Super Motivated” To Compete In Rio, Welcomes ‘Bigfoot’ Silva To The Team

Former UFC heavyweight champion Antônio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira (32-6-1, 1NC) is busy in his final weeks of preparation for opponent Brendan Schaub. The two are scheduled to meet at UFC 134 in Rio de Janeiro, marking the first time that Nogueira will have fought in his home country of Brazil after 40 professional fights.
‘Minotauro’ has spent the early part of 2011 recovering from surgeries to his hip and knees, but is now fully recovered and ready to face ‘The Hybrid’ on August 27.
Speaking to Tatame.com about the preparations for his fight, Nogueira spoke about being “super motivated” to fight in front of his fellow countrymen.

“The expectations are high. There’s that pressure of fighting at home and representing the Brazilian people, and it’ll be almost my 40th bout… I’m super motivated.”
“It’ll be my first fight here, so I’m excited about it, I’m really motivated. Four months ago I was using crutches to help me walk, and now being here training with high level athletes proves I overcame many obstacles, we did a hard and strong work with the physiotherapist Angela Cortez, and the team is really strong for UFC Rio. Me, Anderson Silva and Erick Silva will fight hard.”

Recently, Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva moved from training with Imperial Athletics in Florida, where he trained with the likes of Rashad Evans and Jorge Santiago, to Team Nogueira in Brazil, at the invitation of ‘Minotauro’.
Commenting on the move, Nogueira said he is happy to have the Strikeforce fighter in their camp and is confident that ‘Bigfoot’ will be the winner of the World Grand Prix Tournament.

“Bigfoot has all the tools to become Strikeforce GP champion. I believe he’ll become the champion of the tournament and also of the event. He has always been a top guy because he’s a big guy, agile, thin… He’s not a heavy or really muscle guy, he’s just big, he has good takedowns, he has a good ground game, he has good Boxing skills, he has a perfect Wrestling, he’s practically a international level wrestler. He trains his takedowns a lot, he’s explosive, he has great conditioning, he has a good head too, when the fight comes he becomes even bigger. He’s not a lion on the gym, he’s a lion on the fights (laughs).”