Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira (32-6-1, 1NC) was in Las Vegas to lend his support to teammate Anderson Silva as he successfully defended his middleweight title against Vitor Belfort at UFC 126.
With Silva’s win the UFC will now look to book a ‘Super-fight’ between him and the UFC welterweight champ Georges St-Pierre, only if he defeats Jake Shields at UFC 129. That plus the news that Jon “Bones” Jones would replace Rashad Evans against another teammate of Nogueira’s, Mauricio “Shogun” Rua, would of course lead reporters to ask the former PRIDE & UFC heavyweight champion his thoughts on the matchups.
Speaking to Tatame.com “Minotauro” offered these responses, noting that he gives the advantage in both fights to Silva and Rua over their respective opponents:
How it’ll be now? Will he fight Georges St. Pierre? How do you think it’ll be like? GSP has a complete game too…
Yes, indeed. A guy is a good wrestler. He might stop Anderson Silva with his Wrestling skills, but he won’t keep Anderson on the ground. Our champion is a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, he’s really good, he’s improving… Vitor Belfort, who’s a Carlson Gracie’s black belt, couldn’t keep him on the ground, and it’s not Georges St. Pierre the one who’ll keep him down. Anderson’s reach is bigger, Anderson’s stronger. I’d like this fight to be in Brazil. It’ll be awesome.What do you expect from Shogun vs Jones?
Jones will be a tough opponent for Shogun, he’s doing just fine on Wrestling, he’s excited. The guy’s coming of a good sequence of wins, but Shogun is one of our most experienced fighters, his catch is very strong, he’s much experience while standing, he’s a Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt, he has a great half guard, and I think he’ll beat the guy on his half guard… If he starts to strike, Jon Jones doesn’t have a tough chin to handle Shogun (laughs).
Nogueira is still sidelined by a couple of injuries, as well as two hip surgeries which have shelved him for a year. His last fight was in Februar 2010 at UFC 110, a knockout loss to current UFC heavyweight champ Cain Velasquez.