Despite his defeat at the hands of Frank Mir Saturday night at UFC 92, former interim UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira vows that fight fans have not seen the last of “Minotauro”.
“I apologize to all my fans for my fight on Saturday, and I’m very disappointed with what happened, but I promise that I’ll be back stronger and better in 2009,” said Nogueira, a former PRIDE champion who is considered to be one of the greatest heavyweights of all-time. “I’ve come back before, and I’m going to get the title back.”
Nogueira was TKO'ed in the second round by his coaching rival from The Ultimate Fighter, Mir, in what was one of the year’s biggest upsets. But the Brazilian, who was stopped for the first time in his career, is making no excuses for the defeat.
“I’ve got a lot of respect for Frank Mir, he fought a great fight and was the better man that night,” said the 32-year old Nogueira. “I was ready to fight, but he got to me before I was able to get to him.”
Manager Ed Soares agrees with Nogueira’s assessment of the bout, but he also wants his fighter to take some time off before his return to the Octagon.
“Congratulations to Frank Mir on his win, he was great on Saturday night, the best we’ve ever seen him,” said Soares. “As far as Antonio is concerned, now that the fight is over, we’re going to get him patched up, have him take some time off, and bring him back at one hundred percent. This was a rough camp for him, but of course you’d never know it because he’s a true warrior, one of those guys who never complains about anything and who just loves fighting for his fans. He gave his best on Saturday and even though he fell short, the first thing he told me after the fight was that he wants to get that belt back, and our entire team knows that he can do it.”
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