A biography for Antonio Rodrigo Nogueirahasn’t been written yet.
“Of course I miss fighting. That was my life.”
“Fighting in the cage brings much more adrenaline than fighting in the ring. When you step inside the Octagon and they close the door, that's really a high adrenaline feeling because they enclose you and one guy in the cage.”
“I went to the UFC and won the UFC title.”
“I have 16 metal screws in my right arm, from the elbow to the shoulder, and they are extremely painful at the beginning of a training camp and also when the temperature changes. I also had a surgery on my left arm and two on my hips. Those four surgeries were pivotal in my decision to retire.”
“I know the limits of my body.”
“Always I try one submission. If it doesn't work, the second one works.”
“Guys who are my friends, guys who I visit their homes, I don't feel like fighting those guys.”
“Nobody talked a lot in Japan, but I always had a good relationship with everyone. I always liked to talk with Anderson. He has always been very respectful because he's a student of the martial arts.”
“If you watch closely a highlight of my fights, you will see armbars and everything. But if you really watch, what you'll see most of all is me getting back up. The power of getting back up. And to try again. It's all about overcoming.”
“I do work every day, man.”
“I went through three surgeries on my hip and knees.”
“I have done a total of 22 surgeries; I'm all broken.”
“I want to help further the spread of MMA around the world and give my contribution to the emergence and development of young talent.”
“I love to work with athletes.”
“I used to ride horses and I remember one day I was working with a horse and we were having it jump, you know? There was a competition and so we were doing a test run and the horse fell on top of my body. I was a kid, like 7 years old. It took them a long time to take the horse off of my body after it had fallen.”
“The American fans, they follow the sport very much. They know the news. The know the guys who are coming up.”
“It was two fights: the fight itself, and the fight to be able to see. That's one of the reasons why I stopped fighting.”
“I love the training routine but I have to be 100 percent to fight.”
“They have a clinic in Kansas where they work with stem cells. What they do is they remove some cells from fat out of your back and then inject them in your joints. I did it on my elbows, my hips and knees, it stimulates cartilage growth.”
“When you wake up in the morning and have good training and learn something, have good adrenaline and you're going to face some good guys in the gym, that keeps you warm.”