Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on UFC 148: I want to grab one of Sonnen's teeth
Posted on July 2, 2012, 01:36 PM by Mike SearsonAnderson Silva has promised to rip every one of Chael Sonnen’s teeth out at their upcoming rematch at UFC 148 this Saturday and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira says he is counting the days for it to happen. “I wanna grab one of Sonnen’s teeth", joked the heavyweight in an interview with TATAME.
Criticizing Sonnen’s performance inside the cage, Nogeira says: “The guy’s disrespectful. The way he advertises himself is a wrong way of advertising, it’s disrespectful. He’s a tough fighter, a super athlete, but his kind of fight doesn’t sell, doesn’t convince, he’s not a dangerous striker nor a submitter. Where he gets his popularity from? Talking."
Minotauro is no stranger to the fight game and knows and accepts that trash-talking is an effective way to sell pay-per-view, but he believes that Sonnen went too far on his provocations: “He’s a guy who says bad things about countries, the athlete, Anderson’s wife and even the way he dresses. He gets into things that do not matter. If he said he was going to beat Anderson and explain how; I guess it would be ok, but he gets into personal stuff and that’s a mistake. Anderson did good on (his response) to him”.
Despite Sonnen's lackluster history on fighting Brazilians on the ground, Nogueira affirms that Sonnen has a good ground game: “He’s good on the ground and knows who to defend himself (against) Jiu-Jitsu. He trains with Brazilians. How did he learn that? Was he born with natural Jiu-Jitsu skills? He says bad things about Brazil and Jiu-Jitsu but trains in it. He wants to improve his flaws but it won’t happen this time. I guess there’s a knockout coming.”
Sonnen almost went the distance with Silva in their last fight at UFC 117. According to the numbers, he struck Silva more times in that fight than Silva had been hit in his entire career and according to the judges who scored the match, Sonnen was ahead on points going into the final round; when Silva won by submission. To overcome holes in his training, Sonnen has hired Vinny "Pezao" Magalhaes as a jiu-jitsu coach for his rematch with Silva.
Minotauro makes light of this and jokes: “He’s gotta try. Pezao is a very good Jiu-Jitsu guy and (Sonnen) has got to improve his triangles. He was submitted by Demian, Sobral, Paulo, Anderson and Jeremy Horn. I guess he says bad things about Jiu-Jitsu and Brazil because of that: he’s traumatized by the Brazilians’ ground game."
Nogueira has been closely watching Silva’s training camp in preparation for the fight, and foresees the "Spider" dominating the fight: “I’ve never seen Anderson like this. He’s throwing amazing kicks and punches, he’s got an amazing ground game and he has effective takedown defenses. I watched his last couple of training sessions and he’s prepared. Sonnen will have to hang in there because (Silva) really wants it and he’s ready for it.”
Comments
cant wait me and the wife will me 10 rows from the ring!!!!! 5 more days love you baby!!!! best b day so far
Hi Silvaisking,
Happy Birthday!!!!
/Odesa
Great article.
I wonder what the real teeth would go for on EBay?
I'd throw a dollar (USD) at it.
they would make a nice necklace for silva!
Afraid that mouth guards prevent teeth from falling out. Sonnen covers up well so the only KO you can hope for is a TKO from a cut that Silva does from the bottom.
Otherwise Sonnen Decision/Submission :]
DLS, right you are. Did you see the stats video? The least hit middle weight ever?!?! Wow, must have been the steroids.
you can change that to most hit after this fight
I would like to understand why people have weaked Bruces comment.
Getting into striking range with a fighter known for his movement is a result of good movement... that takes skill.
Isn't that the point you were making Bruce?
the teeth may wash out from all the verbal diarrhoea Chael spouts.
wht happened to Randy's tooth?
I think Dan Henderson is also looking for his teeth.
Mouth guard did not help Randy... : )
That was after a dinner at Anderson's house. He had a steak and then slapped Mrs. Silva's a$$. She slapped back.
thats cuz machida gave him one helluva CRANE!
Sonnen will expose Anderson's weakness. Looking back at his record its not really that impressive. The only big names I can see are Forest. Which was a fixed fight. Forest gets hit one time and goes flopping his legs up in the air after he's down on the mat. BS. Rich Franklin is a good fighter that was a decent match. Dan Henderson could and would have defeated him if given another chance, and thats about it. Sorry. The only reason everybody thinks his that good is because he's fighting people with so,so records and he actually finishes his fights. Chael will get it done. Push the pace and put him against the cage. Ground and pound. O and for everyone who says Anderson has a great ground game and will summit Chael. I know he's from Brazil, but lately Brazilian fighters haven't been doing very well on the ground. Just ask Antonio.
this most be chael's 2nd acct. there was not fix franklin was in his prime and a beast at the time and he made hendo tap just like he did u lol, all his fight were number 1 cont. yes u hit silva 300 times and still lost?? and yes i think this guy might be chael too!
Sonnen has a "so so " record.....11 loses....steroid cheat ...mortgage fraudster...pillow fists....baby talk.....everyone keeps saying he is a smart fighter ..yet he keeps getting subbed in almost the same way .
Big Nog, this guy is nothing but a piece of dirt.
For the last fight AS promised Big Nog a sub. This time he is promising a KO (at least). Let's see what happens.
Sonnen has been stopped by a cut once, and a tko ref stoppage once, out of 40+ fights he has never been TKO ref stoppaged or KO'd, maybe Silva can do it? Maybe he cant? The best thing about this, IS THAT THIS FIGHT IS LESS THAN A WEEK AWAY. YEAHHHHH
oops i meant to say corner stoppaged once, FML... oh well i get insta weaked by half the lowkick community anyways
maybe if i changed my name i would quit getting weaked too lol