Frank Mir seemed one punch away from being slept by Antonio ‘Minotauro’ Nogueira in their UFC 140 rematch in 2011. The former heavyweight champion was pushed against the cage by the Brazilian, who proceeded to hit him with a series of vicious elbows and knees. A clean hard right landed for ‘Minotauro’ soon after and a groggy Mir staggered to the canvas. Now it was just a matter of finishing Mir off, who was being hammer-fisted by Nogueira. And to everyone’s surprise, the American submission machine wasn’t even covering up.
But suddenly, somehow, for some strange reason, ‘Minotauro’ decided to guillotine choke Mir, whose neck was exposed since he wasn’t covering up. Out of nowhere, Mir caught a second wind and maneuvered himself to the top, writhing with him and catching Nogueira’s right arm in a vicious kimura. But this was Antonio Nogueira, a very prideful man and one of the best BJJ practitioners in the history of the sport. ‘Minotauro’ didn’t tap. And Mir, who already disliked the Brazilian, didn’t even hesitate and snapped Nogueira’s upper arm in two.
All the while, Joe Rogan, who was commentating on the fight, was losing his mind. And more than twenty years later, the UFC commentator cannot help but wince thinking about that whole sequence. On episode #2290 of the JRE podcast, comedian Michael Kosta brought up the topic of how humbling it must be for fighters to submit during a fight.
This prompted the UFC commentator to warn him of how horrific things could turn out if you don’t. “Well, hopefully, you will tap because guys haven’t tapped, and they’ve gotten their arms broken in half. And I’ve seen quite a few of those. Including legends like Frank Mir,” he said. “You mean [have] too much pride to tap?” Kosta asked.
Rogan agreed and the first example that came to the Texas resident’s mind about the dangers of not tapping was Nogueira’s sickening arm break. “Yeah, ‘cuz he fought Antonio Nogueira, who was another legend, who was a former heavyweight champion of Pride. And he [Mir] caught him [Nogueira] in a Kimura and snapped his upper arm. And we watched his arm crack and then go limp, and you could see like where it was cracked up here. Oh, it was horrific,” Rogan recalled with a grimace.
But why did Nogueira decide to submit to Mir all of a sudden when he was so close to finishing the American? Well, according to the Brazilian, it was someone else’s fault.
Antonio Nogueira reveals reason for trying to submit Frank Mir at UFC 140
“I knew I made a mistake as I tried to submit on a fight where I could have won by KO. But when Frank Mir was practically knocked out I heard the judge ask me to stop punching him at the neck and that exactly when I tried to choke him,” Nogueira told ‘Tatame.com’ a week after the fight way back in 2011.
Since English is not Nogueira’s native tongue, it seems he mean to say that the referee (not the judge) asked him to ‘stop punching’ Mir since he was hitting on the neck. Basically, ‘Minotauro’ shifted the blame of his loss to the referee. However, the Brazilian did commend Mir for the incredible comeback, and promised that he would avenge this loss.
“Mir put himself together and must be congratulated for submitting me. I checked the videos and I wasn’t hitting him on the neck, but on Mir’s side of the head, which is allowed. But I’m not here to apologize. I lost, I’ll recover from my arm injury and then move on, probably on the second UFC Rio of 2012,” Nogueira concluded.
UFC: UFC 140 Dec 10, 2011, Toronto, ON, Canada UFC fighter Frank Mir top against fighter Minotauro Nogueira during a heavyweight bout at UFC 140 at the Air Canada Centre. Toronto Ontario Canada, EDITORIAL USE ONLY PUBLICATIONxINxGERxSUIxAUTxONLY Copyright: xTomxSzczerbowski-USAxTODAYxSportsx 5790636
Alas, another Nogueira-Mir clash never happened, and the Brazilian finished his career 0-2 to Mir. The arm break was every bit as horrific as Rogan recalls. Indeed, seeing ‘Minotauro’s arm bent at an unnatural angle, crack, and go limp as Nogueira listlessly stared at his useless arm was a pretty grim scene. But perhaps what must have hurt even more is that his opponent somehow snatched victory from the jaws of defeat at UFC 140. What do you think about Joe Rogan’s take on the famous Antonio Nogueira arm break?
The post “We Watched His Arm Crack” – Joe Rogan Recalls UFC Legend Frank Mir Punishing Rival With ‘Too Much Pride To Tap’ appeared first on EssentiallySports.