Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira stepped up to the plate with only a month to go to face Dave Herman at UFC 153. The fight meant little in the heavyweight rankings but was predicted to be an entertaining fight as every MMA fan loves watching “Big Nog” compete.
The master of overcoming adversity didn’t suffer too many challenges in the Octagon, but that doesn’t mean Nogueira didn’t have to overcome any adversity in this fight. According to Tatame, the Brazilian fought with a fractured rib. Nogueira said (translated by Google):
Fractured my rib three weeks ago on my right side. I went to the doctor, I took a local anesthetic to be able to train and when he (Dave Herman) gave me a shot there, gave me a shortness of breath and took a swung from one side to the other to see what had happened, had broken. There was a big break, but got scared when the kick hit him.
The fight against Herman was Nogueira’s first since Dec. of 2011 when the former Pride and UFC champion suffered a broken arm against Frank Mir. Nogueira was able to defeat Herman via second-round tapout due to an armbar.
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