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ASSOCIATED PRESS
Minotauro Nogueira, bottom, has his arm broken by Frank Mir during UFC 140 in Toronto on Saturday, Dec. 10, 2011.
Sunday, Dec. 11, 2011 | 1:30 a.m.
UFC 140
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KSNV coverage of UFC 140 in Toronto, Dec. 10, 2011.
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TORONTO — If Frank Mir’s wife had the same reaction as the other 18,300 people at the Air Canada Centre Saturday after her husband won his fight, she’s going to be careful what she wishes for in the future.
Mir, a Las Vegas native, emerged victorious by submitting Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with a kimura in the first round of their heavyweight rematch. Nogueira refused to tap out when Mir got a hold of his arm, which caused it to snap out of place and break as the crowd moaned in horror of the moment.
Mir explained afterward that his wife, Jennifer, was partially responsible for how the fight played out. She complained about the way his last two bouts turned into kickboxing matches and wanted him to return to his Brazilian jiu-jitsu roots.
Saturday night was their eight-year anniversary, so he had to listen.
“She’s all like, ‘Can’t you go back to the way the old way was,” Mir said. “I think that was pretty reminiscent of the old ways.”
In some respects, the performance was vintage Mir. The 32-year-old won the UFC heavyweight title 7 1/2 years ago when he dislocated Tim Sylvia’s arm with a similar submission.
In other ways, the UFC 140 co-main event was unlike anything ever seen before in the octagon. The 35-year-old Nogueira is one of the world’s best jiu-jitsu instructors. In 41 career fights, Nogueira had 20 victories by submission. No opponent had ever submitted him.
“He’s probably the best submission heavyweight of all time,” UFC President Dana White said of Nogueira. “But you know when you get caught in that thing, you tap. You know to tap out to that. That’s what happens if you don’t.”
A medical team worked for five minutes after the fight to get Nogueira’s arm stabilized in some sort of temporary cast. He went straight to the hospital.
White had no further details on the injury after the bout, but Nogueira could have dislocated both his elbow and shoulder. Mir wished it hadn’t ended so gruesomely, but didn’t see any way around the finish.
“I had a strong inclination that he was not going to tap,” Mir said, “so I took a deep breath and you guys saw what happened.”
Nogueira has only lost by stoppage three times in his 11-year career. Mir has accounted for two of them, as he knocked Nogueira out at UFC 92 three years ago.
Reporters questioned Mir’s motivation for UFC 140 because it would be nearly impossible to top the first Nogueira victory, which was a massive upset at the time. But Mir managed to do it.
“As far as how it feels, I don’t know,” Mir said. “I’d probably get in trouble if I described it in too much detail. You’d think I’m disturbed.”
Nogueira, who was a 2-to-1 underdog with the roles reversed in the Mir rematch, got off to a perfect start. He out-boxed Mir and sent him to the ground with a right hook along the cage.
“I was being a little too reactionary,” Mir said. “When he caught me with the right hand, at that point, it turned into a war. I started to move around and he wanted to play jiu-jitsu with me. I’m pretty good on the ground.”
Nogueira dove in after Mir and looked for a guillotine choke to finish things off. But Mir, who is also a jiu-jitsu black belt, transitioned out of it and got into top position.
After the two worked for positions and submissions at a rapid pace over a few seconds, Mir got a hold of Nogueira’s arm.
“Nine out of 10 times, he probably chokes a guy out in that position,” Mir said. “Just not me.”
Case Keefer can be reached at 948-2790 or case.keefer@lasvegassun.com. Follow Case on Twitter at twitter.com/casekeefer.
Welcome back to the limelight Frank Mir. You're still young, but also now more mature.
Keefer, it was a kimura not arm bar...but no harm no foul since technically a kimura is a type of arm submission anyway.
Mir is a good guy, so is his dad who've I've had the chance to talk to a couple times. Good wins. Nogeira is tough for not tapping but maybe.should have swallowed his pride and tapped his refusal to do so may have ended his career
I'm glad I didn't see or hear it up close this time. The last time I was ringside at a US Marine intramural match at Camp Lejune... it was a friend of mine who suffered a broken humerus right in front of us. Age must be catching up to me as instead of feeling excited, it gives me shudders and a bad feeling.
But, if it meant that much to him to not submit, at least he lost only because they had to call it.
Ridiculous, an event that goes to TV, a ridiculous referee permitted the idiot Mir breaks the arm of a person in a sporting event that is said as a sport. Ridiculous. Another ridiculous referee was the referee of Mashida x Jones. Ridiculous, referee let the guy sleeping in the middle of event TV, the judge was in the other side of the head of the Brazilian fighter and did not see the fighter sleeps. It had a kid in the audience got desperate when he saw the Brazilian fighter sleeps. Regrettable. Bad fight, stupid and unprepared judges and Dana White clueless, to leave these atrocities occur in broadcast TV. Unfortunate the MMA is going the wrong way, running from the competition to get into a fight. A fighter has power, soul and heart. This idiot of the Mir does not have soul, so is not a fighter. It should be arrested for what he did in front of the TV with million of people watching, even my children that did not sleep this night. Idiot. Idiot. Idiot. And Dana White classified as best finalization. That is stupid.
Ditto bob....mauro... the only one to blame is Nogeira. He knows the rulws tap or its gonna break. Not the first time it happened and certainly not last. Nogeira chose pride over health and will pay dearly for it. As for machida stoppage, had the ref been on the opposite side he would have seen machida's right arm go limp a few seconds before he did the left. Not bad reffing at all. If your children didnt sleep last night maybe they're a bit too young to be watching this sport.
Dana is a great salesman for his sport but his hyperbole gets to be a bit much at times. "Submission of the Century"?
All is fair in love war and cage fighting.With the sport gaining in popularity and Fox taking it mainstream, the squeamish need not tune in as occasionally something really ugly happens in the octagon.
Reading between mauro's lines,I think he's particularly upset about the treatment of the Brazilian fighters on Saturday night.
Desert...you're right Dana is the guy who can sell ice to an eskimo. 49er...that makes sense now that I look at it. Disgruntled Brazilian.