It was officially announced last night at UFC 198 that Brazilian Heavyweight Antonio “Big Nog” Nogueira would be inducted into the UFC Hall of Fame class of 2016.
Big Nog, also known as Minotuaro Nogueria, held a professional record of 34-10-1 with one “No Contest” and was one of the stand-out legends of Pride Fighting Championships before being signed by UFC in 2007. He was the first ever Pride Heavyweight Champion and a former interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, and in 2002 was awarded Fighter of the Year by the Wrestling Observer Newsletter.
Minotuaro is easily in the “Top 5” conversation of all the MMA fighters to step foot in a Pride ring, if not higher, and his achievement in UFC – choking out Tim Sylvia to win the interim title despite being past his physical prime, and fighting another five years after for the promotion – makes him an obvious choice for the Hall of Fame. He holds victoreis over the likes of Randy Couture, Heath Herring, Josh Barnett, Fabricio Werdum (who just lost the UFC Heavyweight title last night at UFC 198), Dan Henderson, Bob Sapp and many others. Despite coming up short in each endeavor, his battles with the legendary Fedor Emelianenko and Frank Mir may alone cement him in MMA’s legend category forever.
The 2016 UFC Hall of Fame ceremony will take place in Las Vegas as a part of this year’s International Fight Week activities.
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