The hardest part of watching the main event at UFC On FUEL 10: Nogueira Vs Werdum II wasn’t Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira losing to Fabricio Werdum. It was the way he looked doing it that was hard to see. There was confusion about who was the better brazillian Jiu Jitsu player going into the fight as some people felt that Nogueira was on the same level as Werdum, but those people learned a valuable lesson last night. Once Werdum got a hold of Nogueira’s arm from backmount, Nogueira had almost zero chance to walk out of the octagon with a win. Fans who are aware of the kind of fighter Nogueira is were waiting for Werdum to break his arm, and verbally submitting might have been about the only thing he did right in there on Saturday night.
I knew Werdum’s BJJ acumen would be far superior in the cage on Saturday, but I thought Nogueira’s future in the octagon was in his own two hands. I felt that his hands should be quicker than Werdum’s, and that if he was able to stuff a takedown or two he would be ok. Maybe even frustrate Werdum a little bit with his jab to set up the uppercut. Where Nogueira went wrong, was when he decided to pull guard on Werdum with multiple guillotine chokes. Every time I see a fighter do this, unless you are Ricardo Almeida, Marcelo Garcia, or Cody McKenzie, you can usually find me screaming at the top of my lungs inquiring why the fighter thought this would be a good idea. In the case of Nogueira it was worse. Not only because he has a substantial knowledge base of BJJ, but also because he KNOWS how good Werdum is on the ground. If Nogueira was pulling guard with a guillotine choke on Matt Mitrione it would be one thing, but doing it to Werdum seemed borderline comical to me. Werdum was never going to tap to an arm in guillotine choke at any part of the fight. Also, its worth mentioning here that out of Nogueira’s 34 wins only one was by guillotine choke (you can watch the fight here: Tim Sylvia UFC 81.)
Nogueira is one of those fighters that transcends borders and grudges, and his countless displays of heart is why analysts and fans will always refer to him as a legend. However, last night was a horrible showing for the heavyweight, and I am very happy that the fight was stopped before Werdum tore his arm in half. The one thing to remember before writing off Nogueira is that Werdum has really re-invented himself. There is no doubt that Big Nog had a rough night last night, but it was likely magnified by how well Werdum handled the entire fight.
Photo Credit: Tom Szczerbowski-USA TODAY Sports
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