Noguiera And Mir Officially Announced As Tuf 8 Coaches

SuperWoody101

Spike TV sent along the following:

New York, NY, May 12, 2008 -- The coaches for season eight of Spike TV’s “The Ultimate Fighter,” the most successful original series in network history, will feature two of the UFC’s all-time top heavyweights. Interim UFC heavyweight champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, will star in the new season featuring light heavyweights (205 lbs) and lightweights (155 lbs) premiering Wednesday, September 17 at 10:00pm ET/PT. Nogueira and Mir will square off in the Octagon™ for a to-be-announced UFC pay per view event. UFC President Dana White will once again serve as the show’s host.

The Brazilian native Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (31-4-1), known as “Minotauro” (a Greek mythological creature), is one of the sport’s most successful heavyweights. Nogueira’s incredible career almost never happened as he was involved in a life-threatening accident at age ten when he was run over by a truck in his native Brazil. Fortunately, he survived and avoided permanent damage, thus his mixed martial arts pursuits were not deterred.

He began his professional career in MMA in the United States in June of 1999 with the World Extreme Fighting organization. However, Noguiera truly made a name for himself in the sport when he joined the RINGS organization in Japan and posted an 8-1-1 record from 1999-2000, losing only to Dan Henderson.

Nogueira’s leap to MMA stardom came when he joined PRIDE in Japan and, from 2001-2003, proceeded to defeat the biggest names in the division including Bob Sapp, Mark Coleman, Heath Herring, Enson Inoue, Sanae Kikuta, Semmy Schilt, and avenged his earlier loss to Henderson. A tough loss to Fedor Emelianenko in March 2003 stopped his impressive winning streak, but “Minotauro’s” career rebounded with a close decision win over former UFC heavyweight champion Ricco Rodriguez in August 2003.

The defining match in his career in PRIDE came in November 2003 with a memorable victory over Croatian Mirko Cro Cop via submission to gain the PRIDE heavyweight belt. ‘”Minotauro” would go 8-2 with one no contest in the final three years of his stay in Japan, including avenging a previous defeat to another former UFC heavyweight champ, Josh Barnett, with a decision win in December 2006.

Nogueira made his UFC debut in July 2007 at UFC 77 with a victory over a familiar nemesis, Herring, whom Nogueira had beaten three times previously in his career. This past February, “Minotauro’ defeated Tim Sylvia in a stirring comeback via submission in the third round to claim the interim UFC heavyweight belt. The 31 year-old Nogueira lives in Brazil but spends time in south Florida training with the renowned MMA organization, America’s Top Team.

Although he’s only 28, Frank Mir has endured quite a professional and personal rollercoaster ride since his UFC debut in November 2001 at UFC 34. Following a first round loss to Ian Freeman at UFC 38 in July 2002, Mir, a young, highly touted mixed martial arts star from Las Vegas was at a career turning point. Mir regained credibility as an emerging star with an impressive victory over UFC great Tank Abbott in February 2003. That victory led Mir on a journey to the ultimate prize in mixed martial arts, the heavyweight title. Mir defeated Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 in June 2004 in an unforgettable arm-breaking submission that UFC fans still discuss to this day.

In a span of a few months, Mir went from the heights of UFC heavyweight champion to the lows of nearly dying in a grisly motorcycle accident. The severe injuries he suffered in the horrific accident led to him being stripped of his title as he rehabbed his broken leg.

Mir returned to the Octagon almost two years later in February of 2006, but was stopped by Marcio Cruz in the first round. A subsequent decision win over Dan Christison put Mir in the win column once again, but a loss to rising star Brandon Vera put Mir back on the comeback trail. Now, after two straight victories including a first round submission of Brock Lesner, a former All-American wrestler at the University of Minnesota and WWE superstar, Mir is ready for another shot at the title.

The eighth season of “The Ultimate Fighter” goes into production in late May. The entire cast will be announced in early September.

Craig Piligian of Pilgrim Films and Television, Frank Fertitta III, Lorenzo Fertitta, Dana White of Zuffa, LLC, and Kevin Kay of Spike TV are the show's executive producers. Brian J. Diamond, senior vice president, sports & specials, Spike TV is co-executive producer and Christopher Martello is executive in charge of production for Spike TV.

Spike TV is available in 96.1 million homes and is a division of MTV Networks. A unit of Viacom (NYSE: VIA, VIA.B), MTV Networks is one of the world’s leading creators of programming and content across all media platforms. Spike TV’s Internet address is www.spike.com.

Source: 1mmanews.com

dunkamania

We have a dedicated thread for MMA news, its already reported there.

SuperWoody101

dunkamania wrote: »

We have a dedicated thread for MMA news, its already reported there.

Sorry about that. Can a mod pls close.

Kent Brockman

Thanks for the info Superwoody. And feel free to post anything you think the rest of us might find interesting:)

Personally I prefer to have separate threads to discuss different events/ programs/shows and general interest stuff.
Sometimes discussions or debates get lost or interrupted with breaking news etc on large threads with lots of different things being reported/discussed:(

bjj-fighter

Kent Brockman wrote: »

Thanks for the info Superwoody. And feel free to post anything you think the rest of us might find interesting:)

Personally I prefer to have separate threads to discuss different events/ programs/shows and general interest stuff.
Sometimes discussions or debates get lost or interrupted with breaking news etc on large threads with lots of different things being reported/discussed:(

Im with Kent Brockman!

bilbo79

Me too! you have to read loads of shiite you normally would not to get the chance to read this stuff, that thread has had its day..post there if you want but feel free to post seperate too, there is no rules saying otherwise.

mirwillbeback

i've said it for years, hence the user name, frank mir will be UFC Heavyweight Champion again.

Fozzy

I wouldn't be so sure

Kent Brockman

Anyone else think Mir should learn some control on those submissions:rolleyes:? Seems to want to break limbs rather than get submission

Fozzy

Kent Brockman wrote: »

Anyone else think Mir should learn some control on those submissions:rolleyes:? Seems to want to break limbs rather than get submission

What do you mean by that?

dunkamania

Kent Brockman wrote: »

Anyone else think Mir should learn some control on those submissions:rolleyes:? Seems to want to break limbs rather than get submission

That makes no sense, competing at that level, its up to your opponent to tap. If they want to have a broken limb so be it. As long as you stop when ref steps in.

Kent Brockman

Saw his fight against Roberto Traven (2004 /Ufc 34).
Its a while since I saw it but I remember thinking at the time that he should have released the arm bar before the damage was done. (think the guy had tapped early).

cletus

At that level, its not really about when your opponent taps, but when the ref sees your opponent tapping and tell you to stop (or pushes you over in the case of BJM)