“Minotauro” Nogueira aiming for return at summer show in Brazil

If there’s a silver lining to the arm injury suffered by Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140 it appears to be related to recovery time. While little good may have actually come from Nogueira having his arm broken by Frank Mir after refusing to tap to a Kimura, the popular Brazilian has said he expects to be back in the cage by summer and, to the delight of his countrymen, is targeting a UFC event in Sao Paolo rumored for June.

Nogueira updated fans on his recovery where he said the bone is healing better than expected and will be fully patched by the end of February.

“I think about fighting in the middle of the year, but I gotta be patient,” replied Nogueira when asked about his status in a conversation with TATAME. “My bone will be solidified in six weeks. I’ve started swimming and doing stronger exercises with my arm and then I’ll start working on my cardio so that later I’ll start really to train again. It’s going better than I thought.”

“The doctor told me after six weeks I can do my cardio, but I gotta wait at least two and a half months to put impact on my arm,” he concluded while adding that he hoped to be ready in time for the aforementioned event but was at the mercy of his body to an extent.

The submission loss was the first of Nogueira’s career and came after “Minotauro” nearly had Mir finished due to a plethora of well-placed strikes.

“I was really upset about what happened, but it wasn’t meant to be,” said Nogueira on the sequence of events. “I had it in my hands, I saw the knockout, but I stopped and used a completely mistaken game plan. I stopped punching when I shouldn’t and I paid it with a loss.”

The formerly invincible Nogueira has lost three of his last five fights will the trio of defeats all involving some form of stoppage. He holds an overall record of 33-7-1 with wins over some of the division’s biggest stars, past and present, including Tim Sylvia, Josh Barnett, Mirko Filipovic, and Randy Couture.

PHOTO CREDIT – UFC

—

MMATraining Take: Hopefully he takes his own advice and doesn’t rush back to the ring. However, Nogueira mixed with Brazil is a beautiful combination and I’ll be pulling for him to be back by June as he’s aiming for.