Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira was one of many to pull out of UFC 149.
UFC 149 was to be Nogueira’s return to the cage after Frank Mir snapped in half the upper bone in his right arm because Nogueira refused to tap. It was that very injury that caused him to pull out of UFC 149, according to Nogueira.
“I was sad because my fight was called off. Unfortunately I felt my arm in the latest trainings specifics for MMA. I can’t fight with pain and don’t have a good performance,” Nogueira wrote on Twitter.
Nogueira underwent surgery after the Mir fight to fix the injury, and it seems as though he came back a little too soon to training.
Of course, the injury is a little more complex than it seems, so here is a quote from Nogueira’s physiotherapist, Angela Cortes, to explain the injury:
“The objectives that were set to reach the prime of the preparation in the period of training had been obtained,” she says.
“But during the intense sessions of sparring Rodrigo related discomfort followed by pain in the arm that went under surgery, caused by takedowns and impact from punches on the region where the screws are placed.”
Nogueira was expected to face Cheick Kongo at UFC 149, which takes place in Calgary on July 21. He is 2-3 in his last five fights, which includes two losses to Mir and a loss to Cain Velasquez. Nogueira’s only two wins came against Brendan Schaub last August and over Randy Couture in August of 2009.
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