All-Star Final Four Culminate PRIDE Grand Prix
Nogueira-Barnett
Sep 7, 2006
Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira (Pictures) vs. Josh Barnett (Pictures)
NOGUEIRA: 6’ 3”, 242 pounds, 30, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, known as “Minotauro”
BACKGROUND: Antonio Rodrigo
Nogueira (Pictures) is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu black
belt. He trains with Murilo Bustamante (Pictures), Ricardo Arona (Pictures), Mario Sperry (Pictures), his brother Antonio Rogerio
Nogueira (Pictures) and the rest of the Brazilian Top
Team.
He is a two-time BJJ World Champion; the RINGS King of Kings 1999 Tournament runner up; the RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament champion; the former WEF heavyweight champion; a 2000 Abu Dhabi Combat Championships 99-kg division tournament quarterfinalist; and a former PRIDE heavyweight champion.
MMA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Nogueira began his career in the U.S. at the World Extreme Fighting shows. There he faced UFC veteran David Dodd, Miletich Martial Arts fighters Nate Schroeder and Jeremy Horn (Pictures).
“Minotauro” defeated all three, earning the WEF heavyweight title against Horn. He also began competing in RINGS events the same year. Before he even stepped in PRIDE’s ring he was the RINGS King of Kings 2000 champion and was a split decision away from making the finals of the RINGS King of Kings 1999 tournament.
Nogueira submitted three opponents (Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) and Iouri Kotchkine) and advanced to the RINGS King of Kings finals event, He defeated Sambo stylist Andrei Kopylov by decision and lost a split decision to tournament winner Team Quest’s Dan Henderson (Pictures).
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) took Nogueira to a draw at the Millennium Combine 3 and Nogueira next appeared in the KOK 2000 tournament, where he submitted Achmed Lebasanov and Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) to advance to the KOK Finals.
He defeated Volk Han by decision and submitted Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures) with a rear-choke. In the KOK 2000 title bout, which took place February 2001, Nogueira walked through Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) for the second time to claim the championship honors.
In his only other bout outside PRIDE Nogueira knocked out Sanae Kikuta (Pictures) in the UFO Legend show.
PRIDE EXPERIENCE: 16-2-0 (1 NC)
“Minotauro” debuted in PRIDE against the former gatekeeper of the heavyweight division “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge (Pictures). Mark Coleman (Pictures) was supposed to be his first opponent but an injury forced a change. Goodridge was triangle choked in less than three minutes and it opened the door for Nogueira to fight Coleman at PRIDE 16.
Nogueira quickly armbarred “The Hammer” setting up a bout for PRIDE’s heavyweight championship against Heath Herring (Pictures). This was a war and had everything you could hope for in a title bout. Nogueira claimed his title by decision and then battled veteran Enson Inoue at PRIDE 19.
Inoue came out of retirement for this bout and had not fought in more than a year. He performed admirably but this was Nogueira’s time. “Minotauro” triangle choked Inoue at just over six minutes into the match.
Nogueira next battled the Maurice Smith (Pictures)-trained giant Bob Sapp (Pictures) at the PRIDE Shockwave show. It was a huge risk but Nogueira is a warrior and took the challenge. In an amazing fight “Minotauro” took a beating before controlling one of Sapp’s giant arms to secure an armbar late in the second round.
From one giant to the next, Nogueira battled Dutch Pancrase fighter Semmy Schilt (Pictures). As many predicted, Schilt provided less of a challenge than Sapp and was submitted via triangle choke late in the first round.
Then at PRIDE 24 he battled the one man to defeat him in MMA competition. Although they fight in different weight classes, Dan Henderson (Pictures) accepted the challenge (in a non-title affair) and gave Nogueira a true test. Henderson, however, was submitted for the first time in his career via armbar late in round three.
It was then that Nogueira’s wars with Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) would begin.
The first meeting was disaster for Nogueira, as he was dominated by the Russian and gave up his PRIDE heavyweight belt. Nogueira returned to the ring to win a questionable decision versus Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) at the 2003 Total Elimination show. He then submitted Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) in an entertaining battle to end the year.
The next 12 months brought challenges against Hirotaka Yokoi (Pictures), Heath Herring (Pictures) and Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures). Nogueira went 3-0, with only the Kharitonov bout going the distance.
His second fight with Fedor took place at Final Conflict 2004 and resulted in a No Contest due to an accidental clash of heads that opened a nasty cut on the Russian. There was controversy with some feeling Nogueira should’ve gotten the victory, but they met for a third time on New Year’s Eve ’04 and Fedor won another easy decision.
Nogueira faced Polish judo champion Pawel Nastula (Pictures) in June of 2005. Nastula, a first-timer, showed great heart and good instincts, however he could not deal with the frenetic pace of MMA and fell to strikes late in the first round.
Thus far in 2006 Nogueira blew through Tamura for a second time and took out Brazilian giant Wagner da Conceicao Martins (Pictures), submitting both by armbar in the first round. Then to advance to the semifinals of the GP, he took part in a virtually groundless stand-up confrontation with fellow BJJ black belt Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) and won a unanimous decision.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Unequaled technical skill in the heavyweight division. Nogueira moves like a middleweight and has the best submission skills of any fighter his size. He is very durable and is always ready to go the distance. It is rare to see “Minotauro” exhausted in the ring. He also has huge heart. No matter how battered or bruised, he will continue to fight.
BARNETT: 6’ 3”, 250 pounds, 28, Seattle, Wash., known as “The Baby Faced Assassin”
BACKGROUND: Josh Barnett (Pictures) is a former UFC heavyweight champion, former Pacific Northwest super heavyweight Pankration champion, the winner of the Super Brawl 13 eight-man tournament and an open-weight King of Pancrase.
He competed in the ’99 and ‘00 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships, losing both years in the opening round to the eventual champion of both tournaments, Mark Kerr (Pictures).
He carries a pro MMA record of 18-3-0.
MMA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Barnett began fighting in kickboxing and MMA in the late 1990s and fought many bouts for the United Full Contact Federation (UFCF), where he beat Bob Gilstrap.
Barnett won the Super Brawl 13 heavyweight tournament in Hawaii, defeating Juha Tuhkasaari in the quarters, John Marsh in the semis and Bobby Hoffman (Pictures) in the finals. Barnett returned to Super Brawl and tapped Dan Severn (Pictures) via armbar in what was a career-making win.
“The Baby Faced Assassin” entered the UFC for the first time against The Pit’s Gan McGee (Pictures). Barnett toppled McGee late in the second round when it appeared stamina was a factor. He returned and won many fans over going toe-to-toe with Brazilian heavyweight Pedro Rizzo (Pictures). Barnett was knocked out but not before putting himself on the map.
Barnett submitted the open-weight King of Pancrase Semmy Schilt (Pictures) at UFC 32 and punished Hoffman for a second time at UFC 34. He seemed poised to be the next great heavyweight and got his shot at the title at UFC 36 against Randy Couture (Pictures). Barnett won, stopping the former champ with strikes in the second round. But he was later stripped after testing positive for anabolic steroids.
After falling out of favor with the UFC, Barnett moved on to professional wrestling in Japan. While there, he fought an MMA bout against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures) on a New Japan Pro Wrestling card. In just three minutes Barnett pounded Ambriz, who at the time held the KOTC super heavyweight belt.
Barnett submitted KOP Yuki Kondo (Pictures) in the Pancrase 10th Anniversary show and choked out Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures) at another New Japan show. With his MMA career back on track, Barnett submitted Schilt for a second time in their Inoki Bom-Be-Ye ’03 rematch.
PRIDE EXPERIENCE: 3-2-0. Barnett debuted in at PRIDE 28 and met Mirko Filipovic (Pictures). He suffered a freak injury to his shoulder that forced him to tapout just 46 seconds into their battle.
Following a year away from the sport, Barnett faced “Cro Cop” a second time. Though the bout went the distance, there was no question as to the victor; Barnett was dominated and later he admitted he didn’t prepare properly.
This past February he met Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) and submitted the judoka by rear-naked choke in the first round.
Barnett would work his way to the semifinals of the Open-Weight GP by taking out Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) (in Total Elimination) and Mark Hunt (Pictures) (in Critical Countdown) with arm-lock submission techniques.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Barnett brings a better than average stand-up game for a heavyweight and welcomes a battle on the mat. His knowledge of the submission game runs deep and he tends to finish most of his competition on the ground.
Josh moves well for his size but conditioning is sometimes a factor. He’s a big showman. He weaves back-and-forth from MMA to Japanese pro-wrestling and sometimes that makes it difficult to know where his heart lies.
MY PICK: Nogueira.
This is a heavyweight bout, featuring the top two submission fighters in the division, that we’ve speculated over for years. Neither man has really faced someone with the submission abilities of the other. “Minotauro” just took out Werdum and faced an over-sized Rodriguez a few years back, and Barnett finished Nakamura — but those are really the biggest “ground threats” either has faced in their MMA careers.
Both are in their fighting primes and neither man has lost in this calendar year. On paper, Barnett had the tougher draw but Nogueira’s bout with Werdum pushed him further than anyone Barnett faced to get here.
It would be incredible if Josh won but Nogueira has been through more wars and has a deeper ground game than the American submission fighter. Nogueira by decision.
NOGUEIRA: 6’ 3”, 242 pounds, 30, Rio De Janeiro, Brazil, known as “Minotauro”
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He is a two-time BJJ World Champion; the RINGS King of Kings 1999 Tournament runner up; the RINGS King of Kings 2000 Tournament champion; the former WEF heavyweight champion; a 2000 Abu Dhabi Combat Championships 99-kg division tournament quarterfinalist; and a former PRIDE heavyweight champion.
Rodrigo carries a professional MMA record of 28-3-1 (1 NC).
MMA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Nogueira began his career in the U.S. at the World Extreme Fighting shows. There he faced UFC veteran David Dodd, Miletich Martial Arts fighters Nate Schroeder and Jeremy Horn (Pictures).
“Minotauro” defeated all three, earning the WEF heavyweight title against Horn. He also began competing in RINGS events the same year. Before he even stepped in PRIDE’s ring he was the RINGS King of Kings 2000 champion and was a split decision away from making the finals of the RINGS King of Kings 1999 tournament.
Nogueira submitted three opponents (Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) and Iouri Kotchkine) and advanced to the RINGS King of Kings finals event, He defeated Sambo stylist Andrei Kopylov by decision and lost a split decision to tournament winner Team Quest’s Dan Henderson (Pictures).
Tsuyoshi Kohsaka (Pictures) took Nogueira to a draw at the Millennium Combine 3 and Nogueira next appeared in the KOK 2000 tournament, where he submitted Achmed Lebasanov and Kiyoshi Tamura (Pictures) to advance to the KOK Finals.
He defeated Volk Han by decision and submitted Hiromitsu Kanehara (Pictures) with a rear-choke. In the KOK 2000 title bout, which took place February 2001, Nogueira walked through Valentijn Overeem (Pictures) for the second time to claim the championship honors.
In his only other bout outside PRIDE Nogueira knocked out Sanae Kikuta (Pictures) in the UFO Legend show.
PRIDE EXPERIENCE: 16-2-0 (1 NC)
“Minotauro” debuted in PRIDE against the former gatekeeper of the heavyweight division “Big Daddy” Gary Goodridge (Pictures). Mark Coleman (Pictures) was supposed to be his first opponent but an injury forced a change. Goodridge was triangle choked in less than three minutes and it opened the door for Nogueira to fight Coleman at PRIDE 16.
Nogueira quickly armbarred “The Hammer” setting up a bout for PRIDE’s heavyweight championship against Heath Herring (Pictures). This was a war and had everything you could hope for in a title bout. Nogueira claimed his title by decision and then battled veteran Enson Inoue at PRIDE 19.
Inoue came out of retirement for this bout and had not fought in more than a year. He performed admirably but this was Nogueira’s time. “Minotauro” triangle choked Inoue at just over six minutes into the match.
Nogueira next battled the Maurice Smith (Pictures)-trained giant Bob Sapp (Pictures) at the PRIDE Shockwave show. It was a huge risk but Nogueira is a warrior and took the challenge. In an amazing fight “Minotauro” took a beating before controlling one of Sapp’s giant arms to secure an armbar late in the second round.
From one giant to the next, Nogueira battled Dutch Pancrase fighter Semmy Schilt (Pictures). As many predicted, Schilt provided less of a challenge than Sapp and was submitted via triangle choke late in the first round.
Then at PRIDE 24 he battled the one man to defeat him in MMA competition. Although they fight in different weight classes, Dan Henderson (Pictures) accepted the challenge (in a non-title affair) and gave Nogueira a true test. Henderson, however, was submitted for the first time in his career via armbar late in round three.
It was then that Nogueira’s wars with Fedor Emelianenko (Pictures) would begin.
The first meeting was disaster for Nogueira, as he was dominated by the Russian and gave up his PRIDE heavyweight belt. Nogueira returned to the ring to win a questionable decision versus Ricco Rodriguez (Pictures) at the 2003 Total Elimination show. He then submitted Mirko Filipovic (Pictures) in an entertaining battle to end the year.
The next 12 months brought challenges against Hirotaka Yokoi (Pictures), Heath Herring (Pictures) and Sergei Kharitonov (Pictures). Nogueira went 3-0, with only the Kharitonov bout going the distance.
His second fight with Fedor took place at Final Conflict 2004 and resulted in a No Contest due to an accidental clash of heads that opened a nasty cut on the Russian. There was controversy with some feeling Nogueira should’ve gotten the victory, but they met for a third time on New Year’s Eve ’04 and Fedor won another easy decision.
Nogueira faced Polish judo champion Pawel Nastula (Pictures) in June of 2005. Nastula, a first-timer, showed great heart and good instincts, however he could not deal with the frenetic pace of MMA and fell to strikes late in the first round.
Thus far in 2006 Nogueira blew through Tamura for a second time and took out Brazilian giant Wagner da Conceicao Martins (Pictures), submitting both by armbar in the first round. Then to advance to the semifinals of the GP, he took part in a virtually groundless stand-up confrontation with fellow BJJ black belt Fabricio Werdum (Pictures) and won a unanimous decision.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Unequaled technical skill in the heavyweight division. Nogueira moves like a middleweight and has the best submission skills of any fighter his size. He is very durable and is always ready to go the distance. It is rare to see “Minotauro” exhausted in the ring. He also has huge heart. No matter how battered or bruised, he will continue to fight.
BARNETT: 6’ 3”, 250 pounds, 28, Seattle, Wash., known as “The Baby Faced Assassin”
BACKGROUND: Josh Barnett (Pictures) is a former UFC heavyweight champion, former Pacific Northwest super heavyweight Pankration champion, the winner of the Super Brawl 13 eight-man tournament and an open-weight King of Pancrase.
He competed in the ’99 and ‘00 Abu Dhabi Submission Wrestling Championships, losing both years in the opening round to the eventual champion of both tournaments, Mark Kerr (Pictures).
He carries a pro MMA record of 18-3-0.
MMA CAREER HIGHLIGHTS: Barnett began fighting in kickboxing and MMA in the late 1990s and fought many bouts for the United Full Contact Federation (UFCF), where he beat Bob Gilstrap.
Barnett won the Super Brawl 13 heavyweight tournament in Hawaii, defeating Juha Tuhkasaari in the quarters, John Marsh in the semis and Bobby Hoffman (Pictures) in the finals. Barnett returned to Super Brawl and tapped Dan Severn (Pictures) via armbar in what was a career-making win.
“The Baby Faced Assassin” entered the UFC for the first time against The Pit’s Gan McGee (Pictures). Barnett toppled McGee late in the second round when it appeared stamina was a factor. He returned and won many fans over going toe-to-toe with Brazilian heavyweight Pedro Rizzo (Pictures). Barnett was knocked out but not before putting himself on the map.
Barnett submitted the open-weight King of Pancrase Semmy Schilt (Pictures) at UFC 32 and punished Hoffman for a second time at UFC 34. He seemed poised to be the next great heavyweight and got his shot at the title at UFC 36 against Randy Couture (Pictures). Barnett won, stopping the former champ with strikes in the second round. But he was later stripped after testing positive for anabolic steroids.
After falling out of favor with the UFC, Barnett moved on to professional wrestling in Japan. While there, he fought an MMA bout against Jimmy Ambriz (Pictures) on a New Japan Pro Wrestling card. In just three minutes Barnett pounded Ambriz, who at the time held the KOTC super heavyweight belt.
Barnett submitted KOP Yuki Kondo (Pictures) in the Pancrase 10th Anniversary show and choked out Yoshiki Takahashi (Pictures) at another New Japan show. With his MMA career back on track, Barnett submitted Schilt for a second time in their Inoki Bom-Be-Ye ’03 rematch.
PRIDE EXPERIENCE: 3-2-0. Barnett debuted in at PRIDE 28 and met Mirko Filipovic (Pictures). He suffered a freak injury to his shoulder that forced him to tapout just 46 seconds into their battle.
Following a year away from the sport, Barnett faced “Cro Cop” a second time. Though the bout went the distance, there was no question as to the victor; Barnett was dominated and later he admitted he didn’t prepare properly.
This past February he met Kazuhiro Nakamura (Pictures) and submitted the judoka by rear-naked choke in the first round.
Barnett would work his way to the semifinals of the Open-Weight GP by taking out Aleksander Emelianenko (Pictures) (in Total Elimination) and Mark Hunt (Pictures) (in Critical Countdown) with arm-lock submission techniques.
WHAT HE BRINGS TO THE BOUT: Barnett brings a better than average stand-up game for a heavyweight and welcomes a battle on the mat. His knowledge of the submission game runs deep and he tends to finish most of his competition on the ground.
Josh moves well for his size but conditioning is sometimes a factor. He’s a big showman. He weaves back-and-forth from MMA to Japanese pro-wrestling and sometimes that makes it difficult to know where his heart lies.
MY PICK: Nogueira.
This is a heavyweight bout, featuring the top two submission fighters in the division, that we’ve speculated over for years. Neither man has really faced someone with the submission abilities of the other. “Minotauro” just took out Werdum and faced an over-sized Rodriguez a few years back, and Barnett finished Nakamura — but those are really the biggest “ground threats” either has faced in their MMA careers.
Both are in their fighting primes and neither man has lost in this calendar year. On paper, Barnett had the tougher draw but Nogueira’s bout with Werdum pushed him further than anyone Barnett faced to get here.
It would be incredible if Josh won but Nogueira has been through more wars and has a deeper ground game than the American submission fighter. Nogueira by decision.
