Minotauro Nogueira made a loud statement in his first ever fight in his home country at UFC Rio as he overcame his underdog status and beat rising prospect Brendan Schaub via first round TKO. Coming into the contest many gave Nogueira little chance to beat the up and comer despite the fact that home court advantage rested wholly in his hands. It took him very little time to erase the doubts around him though as he scored a massive knockout and gave his career a new lease on life.
The fight was a fast paced stand up war from the beginning and up until the onslaught that ended the fight Schaub seemed to be getting the better of things. But Nogueira caught Schaub with a furious combo against the cage that had The Hybrid laying face down on the mat and the fans in Rio de Janeiro cheering wildly. It was Nogueira’s first fight since early last year when he suffered a vicious first round knockout of his own against the soon to be heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez. In the interim he was scheduled to take on Frank Mir at UFC 119 though he pulled out due to injury and has been on the shelf ever since.
Conversely the career of Schaub’s now has to be reset as he was positioning himself as one of the top prospects in the shallow heavyweight division. But this loss here and the manner in which he suffered it will send him back to the drawing board. Certainly a defeat at the hands of one of the best ever isn’t going to derail his title aspirations but it will but them on hold for the time being.
