Frank Mir walks away after snappy Antonio "Minotauro" Nogueira's arm
Mir on Nog: “They’re Not Going To Let Me Completely Destroy His Arm.”
Frank Mir shared that his submission victory over Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira still upsets him.
The former UFC heavyweight champion discussed his second win over Nogueira in an interview with MMA TRUFAN. He submitted the Brazilian UFC Hall of Famer with a kimura lock, but the win was anything but satisfying for him.
“At that moment I’m like, ‘Shit, he’s not going to tap.’ And that was just an instant sensation that I had. So I knew that I had to put enough pressure to where the referee would jump in and get involved. I knew that if I kept twisting, that they’re not going to let me completely destroy his arm. The referee will get involved.
“When I started applying pressure, that’s why you actually see me look up at Herb (Dean). I’m just waiting because I’m not even really waiting for Nogueira to tap. In my mind, I knew that was never going to happen.
“So I’m just trying to look up at Herb so that as soon as he says ‘Done!’ I’m going to let go. I’ve never been a fan of people that hold onto things. I think that’s cheap and that’s dirty. It has no place in our sport.”
Mir Said He Had No Intentions of Doing What Happened Next
“But then, as I’m looking up at (Herb), the arm let loose and it obviously snapped, and it actually disturbed me to break his arm.”
Mir’s reaction afterward showed his distress over the situation.
“If you watch the fight again. You can see as I’m doing the interview, I kind of look over my shoulder at him because I’m looking at him on the ground.”
“Big Nog” and Mir became friendly while serving as coaches on The Ultimate Fighter years earlier. Mir shared that he was a fan of Nogueira’s.
“I like him. I think he’s a great role model.”
Mir Wanted to Be Like Nogueira as a Young Fighter
“I had heard of him because guys I was training with in the gym were just talking about, ‘Hey there’s this big guy Nogueira who can fight with his guard, fight off his back and he’s dangerous.’
“I became immediately enamored with that. Because when I first started training jiu-jitsu people were telling me already ‘Oh you’re a big guy so you can’t fight from your guard, you won’t fight off your back.’”
Mir saw Nogueira as an example of what he wanted to be.
“(Nogueira) is 240 pounds and he seems to throw up a triangle just fine without any issues and, you know, I don’t think many people in the heavyweight division want to be in that guy’s guard.”
Mir became one of the greatest submission artists of his generation with wins over Brock Lesnar, Tim Sylvia, and others. But if you were to ask him what victory bothered him most, it would almost certainly be his second win over Minotauro Nogueira.
Hear the full MMA TRUFAN episode on Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira below:
Listen to “Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira” on Spreaker.
