Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is known for his technical mastery of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and his submission victories. He is the current UFC interim Heavyweight champion, since February 2008.

At the age of fourteen he was invited by a friend to train Brazilian Jiu Jitsu under Ricardo de la Riva Goded. He had earlier started training some boxing. In 1999 he was awarded with the black belt in both Judo and Brazilian Jiu Jitsu. That same year, he made his Mixed Martial Arts debut against David Dodd in WEF 6, submitting Dodd via crucifix in the 1st round. After defeating Nate Schroeder via armbar in WEF 7, he fought in Japan for the RINGS promotion's King of Kings 1999 forty eight man tournament held over 3 events where he won three fights before losing by decision to Dan Henderson in the tournament semi-finals. In between the two RINGS events in which he competed he defeated Jeremy Horn by decision at WEF 8. Nogueira then entered the King of Kings 2000 forty man tournament held over three events, winning all of his five matches to become the tournament champion.

Following the end of Akira Maeda's Rings federation, Nogueira was signed by PRIDE FC. He debuted in July 2001 at PRIDE 15, rapidly submitting Gary Goodridge by triangle choke. In PRIDE 16, he submitted UFC and PRIDE Grand Prix champion Mark Coleman by armbar. He was crowned PRIDE heavyweight champion after defeating fellow contender Heath Herring by decision.

Defeating Enson Inoue, he next fought for Antonio Inoki's UFO organisation, scoring his first MMA knockout against Sanae Kikuta.

He then represented PRIDE at PRIDE Shockwave, which was co-promoted with K1, against the super heavyweight former American footballer Bob Sapp. Sapp manhandled the much smaller Nogueira, spiking him onto the ring canvas and dominating the fight, until tiring and falling to an armbar submission. His battle with Sapp (who outweighed him by over 150 pounds) made him a fan favorite for his seemingly inhuman ability to take punishment and comeback to win.

Dutch karate fighter Semmy Schilt was his next opponent. Again heavily outsized, he scored another victory by triangle choke. He then avenged his sole loss at this point by submitting Dan Henderson who had previously beaten him in Rings.

His next title defense was against Fedor Emelianenko at PRIDE 25 where he suffered his second loss, a judges decision after Emelianenko dominated the fight with characteristic 'ground and pound' through the guard. Bounced back from the loss, he won a decision against former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez. Rodriguez managed to score takedowns and maintain top position, but since PRIDE's scoring is determined primarily by "effort to finish the fight by KO or submission", Nogueira's multiple submission attempts won him the controversial decision victory. [2]

In November 2003, with heavyweight champion Emelianenko unable to fight due to injuries, PRIDE elected to crown an interim champion, so top contenders Nogueira and Mirko Filipoviæ were matched up. Filipoviæ managed to dominate the first round with his superior striking and landed his trademark left high kick, but in the second round, Nogueira managed to secure a takedown and roll into an armbar to submit Filipoviæ.

On 25 April 2004 at PRIDE Total Elimination 2004, the first round of the 2004 Heavyweight Grand Prix, he faced the unbeaten professional wrestler and former judoka Hirotaka Yokoi, who he choked with the debut of his anaconda chokehold. He then repeated this against Heath Herring in the next round to advance to the semi finals where he defeated Sergei Kharitonov with his superior boxing to face Fedor Emelianenko in the finals. The fight was markedly different from their first, with Nogueira able to avoid the damage he suffered from 'ground and pound' in their first meeting, but was stopped when Emelianenko suffered a cut after an accidental headbut and could not continue, resulting in a 'no contest'. Another rematch was thus required, and was scheduled for PRIDE Shockwave 2004 on 31 December 2004. Despite Nogueira's improved gameplan and striking technique, he suffered another unanimous decision loss to Emelianenko.

At PRIDE Critical Countdown 2005 he defeated Polish Olympic Judoka Pawel Nastula by strikes and following this, at PRIDE 31 he beat professional wrestler and fighter Kiyoshi Tamura by armbar for the second time.

He then entered the 2006 PRIDE open weight grand prix, progressing to the semi final by defeating fellow Brazilians Zuluzinho and Fabricio Werdum. In the semi final, he faced the American catch-wrestler Josh Barnett and lost to a split decision, as both had landed damaging blows and submission attempts without managing to secure a victory. Barnett went on to face Mirko Filipoviæ in the finals, submitting to punches and kicks to the face.

Nogueira then avenged the loss to Barnett with a unanimous decision win at PRIDE Shockwave 2006.

Minotauro joined the UFC in April, 2007. After defeating Heath Herring via unanimous decision at his UFC debut, he defeated Tim Sylvia at UFC 81 in the third round with a guillotine choke to become the Interim Heavyweight Champion.

Courtesy of: www.wikipedia.org

Black belt in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu

Rings King of Kings 2000 Tournament Winner

PRIDE FC Heavyweight Champion (First)

UFC Interim Heavyweight championship

First fighter to hold both the UFC and Pride FC Heavyweight Championships