Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira Road to Recovery

Following a brutal submission loss, to a Kamura courtesy Frank Mir at UFC 140, doctors confirmed that Antonio Rodrigo ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira (33-7-1, 1nc) did indeed sustain a broken arm.  The broken arm required surgery for the former UFC and Pride heavyweight champion.  It was believed that, due to the severity of the break, that Nogueira would not resume training until June of 2012, nearly 6 months after the surgery.  Nogueira, however, had other thoughts in mind as he laced up his gloves and went to work at his Team Nogueira Training Center.  In an interview posted by Gleidson Venga at Sherdog.com, Nogueira had this to say,

I felt great. I was longing to train. I was just going to show some ‘shadow’ training, but I couldn’t stand it,” said Nogueira, admitting that he isn’t yet ready to train at 100 percent. “I still need about three weeks of physical therapy [and] to hone my boxing with coach Erivan [Conceicao], and then, later, I’ll call Master [Ricardo] de la Riva and start training jiu-jitsu. I think I’m back in a month.

‘Minotauro’ Nogueira, now 35 years old, is quite restless considering some of the big named fighters that frequent his gym.  On occasion Team Nogueira Training Center lends a helping hand to some of the biggest names in mma with regards to several UFC champions and prospects alike.  Fighters like Anderson Silva (31-4) and Junior Dos Santos (14-1) like to visit on occasion and Nogueira would like nothing more than to be able to train with these elite fighters.

We here at The MMA Beatdown wish you a speedy recovery Nogueira.