And now he’s retired. The word legend is thrown around way too much in sports but Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira is an actual living legend. “Big Nog” retired from mixed martial arts and he will go down in the history books as the only man to ever hold both the UFC’s and Pride FC’s heavyweight title. The only one!
For two separate snap shots in time Nogueira was the baddest man on the planet for both of MMA’s biggest promotions ever.
A huge part of Pride’s golden age Nogueira is a consensus top five, maybe top three, MMA heavyweight of all-time.