First thing Cain fought a good fight and he showed some fast hands and very good striking technique, but to see Nog get humiliated like that was really one of the saddest moments in MMA history in my opinion.
I think we all know that knockout would not have happened and Cain would not have won that fight were Nog the same fighter he was 5 or 6 years ago in Pride.
People should not try and tarnish Nogueira's legacy by equating Cain beating Nog now to Cain being able to beat a prime Nogueira.Nog's reflexes, speed, and boxing technique have deteriorated considerably from the level they were in 2004-2005 and the cummulative damage he has taken over his career has really taken away one of the major advantges he had and that was his iron chin and amazing recovery time.
If you disagree I suggest you take a look at Nog's fights in the 2004 Pride HW GP when he was truly in his prime as a fighter. Especially his fights against Kharitonov and Fedor.
Against Kharitonov Nogueira's boxing and head movement were superb. He was bobbing and weaving, slipping punches, bending at the hips, constantly using his jab to maintain distance and score points, and also had great agility and footwork to step back and circle out of harms way whenever Kharitonov whent for a knockout.
Compare that to his last few fights in the UFC (Cain, Couture, Silvia) He stands strait up like a statue with his chin up in the air, has zero head movement, never bends at the hips, doesn't seem like he even tries to slip any punches, and when he inevitably gets tagged he immediately goes down like a sack of bricks and is no longer able to recover immediately and pull guard like he has in the past.
I sincerely hope for Nog's long term health that he retires now or after maybe one more fight so he doesn't go out on a loss.
The only way I see him being able to continue is if he changes his style and looks to finish all his opponents on the ground instead of trying to stand and bang with them.
If he cannot regain the reflexes, boxing defense, Iron chin and recovery ability he had in the past he has no business standing up with any of todys top HW fighters.
Please Nog, either change up your style or retire now before it's too late.
BTW Nog's my second favorite fighter all time (after Fedor) so what I am saying comes from the heart and out of real concern for his health and well being.Regards,
frat, but i agree. nog should retire. he cannot hang with todays heavies.
macbjj - didnt read that but Nog definately should not retire....he lost to a top contender and it was a one punch knockout.....both guys boxing with 4 ounce gloves.....someones gettin knocked out quick
Not if they have any boxing defense or a good chin.
By your logic every fight should end with one punch knockouts since everybody fights with 4 once gloves.
chrisdaniels85 - Oh come the fuck on, The guy was solid top 5 before the Cain fight.
Now your saying he should retire?
Noobs
I don't care about nog's ranking. I do care about his health and his legacy.
Just look at his past 5 fights. He has 3 wins and 2 losses, but his two losses have come by devastating KO (which is unheard of for NOG) and even in his wins he took tremendous amounts of damage (except for the Couture fight and that's because couture has zero KO power.)
No you are not giving Cain credit. Did you predict a Cain victory over Nog before the fight? No, you thought Nog would win. You didn't think Nog was past his prime then. Only when you saw you superhero get knocked out like any other human being you refuse to accept it.
Pride fanboys are the worst in the world.
The Prophecy - No you are not giving Cain credit. Did you predict a Cain victory over Nog before the fight? No, you thought Nog would win. You didn't think Nog was past his prime then. Only when you saw you superhero get knocked out like any other human being you refuse to accept it.
Pride fanboys are the worst in the world.
Before the fight I though Nog could win by submission if it went to the ground.
But I knew coming in that he could very well lose in the standup since his striking has looked terrible his last few fights.Even the couture fight did not give me much confidence as I could see in that fight he was still getting tagged as much as he did against Mir and Silvia. It's just that Couture has zero KO power and Nog was able to take his shots without going down.
Quit with the pride faanboy crap. I'm an MMA fan. It's just so happens that some of the greatest MMA fighters ever are former Pride guys. Doesn't mean I hate the UFC. In fact Cain is my favorite UFC heavyweight other than Nog and Dos Santos.