Sports Radio Interviews

Nogueira: This Fight Was Supposed To Happen In 2001

It is extremely hard to look past UFC 100 next weekend where there are basically three headline fights taking place in Las Vegas, but there’s also a special event taking place at the end of August.  Portland will taste UFC blood for the first time and there’s no doubt they’ll be hooked.  The solid card is obviously not close to the UFC 100 lineup, but features a throwback matchup of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Randy Couture.  Top to bottom, the 102 card has some intriguing matchups that the Portland fans will love, but the casual fan will have to love submissions and wrestling if they want to get in to the heavyweight headliner.  Nogueira joined KFXX in Portland to discuss facing Couture, the profile of a fighter in the UFC, and why he became a mixed martial artist.

Are you going to beat Randy Couture in UFC 102?

“That’s my goal.  I got my game-A for him, my A-game.  (Host: Couture is like the Muhammad Ali of the sport, right?)  Yeah, he’s a legend of the sport and I’m a legend in Japan, so we gonna face each other.  It’s gonna be an awesome match, everyone expecting to see that match for a couple years.  I was supposed to fight him since 2001 where we fought at same tournament in Japan, but that fight never happened so it’s gonna happen in 2009.”

Are all the UFC fighters crazy, wild, tattooed guys?

“No, that’s wrong.  When you get a high level athlete, you see Randy Couture, he’s a normal guy, just an athlete, a high-level athlete.  You know, like wrestling champ from some countries, they fighting in UFC, so you gonna see the true athletes fighting now.  Before, you used to be a lot of like tattoo guys, but the most successful guys are gonna be normal guys.”

When did you decide to get in to mixed martial arts?

“I started to do judo when I was four years old so it became very natural for my family.  I had a big support from my mother’s side; my father he never wants to, he want me to be a lawyer.  You know, my brother just quit law school because he was traveling to Japan a lot for fight.  I mean, that’s a normal world for us – for me, it’s not violent because we’ve been well prepared for that… If the body is well prepared to be there, it’s not violent for us.”

Listen to Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on KFXX in Portland

Tags: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, MMA, Randy Couture, UFC