Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Former UFC heavyweight champion Antônio Rodrigo ‘Big Nog’ Nogueira (33-7-1, 1NC) is looking to “grab one of (Chael) Sonnen’s” teeth following this weekends UFC 148 bout with ‘Big Nog’s’ Black House teammate UFC middleweight champ Anderson Silva.
The comment follows Silva’s uncharacteristic outburst last week during a UFC 148 media call in which ‘The Spider’ announced to the world that “I’m going to break his face and every tooth in his mouth.”
Nogueira is still sidelined undergoing intensive rehab for his right arm with was broken by Frank Mir last December. ‘Big Nog’ had been linked to a UFC 149 fight with Cheick Kongo but was unable to take the fight and was replaced by Shawn Jordan at the Canadian event.
Speaking to Tatame.com, Nogueira offered his thoughts on the title rematch between his friend Anderson Silva and the “disrespectful” Chael Sonnen.
“I wanna grab one of Sonnen’s tooth (laughs)”, jokes the heavyweight on an interview with TATAME.
“The guy’s disrespectful. They way he advertises himself is a wrong way of advertising, it’s disrespectful”, says Nogueira, criticizing the wrestler’s performance inside the cage. “He does those warm fights. He’s a tough fighter, a super athlete, but his kind of fight doesn’t sell, doesn’t convince, he’s not a dangerous striker nor a submitter. Where he gets his popularity from? Talking”.
“He’s a guy who says bad things about countries, the athlete, Anderson’s wife, the way he dresses… He gets into things that doesn’t matter”, criticize Rodrigo. “If he said he was going to beat Anderson and explained how I guess it was ok, but he gets into personal stuff and that’s a mistake. Anderson did good on responding to him”.