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26/06/09 - Nogueira looks "terrible", says former coach Bustamante
Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has looked "terrible" in his last three fights, according to Brazilian Top Team boss Murilo Bustamante.
hurt him.
Nogueira used to fight for BTT and trained under Bustamante while he was with Pride FC. But he has been training under his own direction while fighting for the UFC, and Bustamante believes his decision to leave BTT has hurt him.
"After he left BTT, his fights were terrible. When he was training with us, he easily beat Heath Herring in Pride - twice. Then, the third time they fought, he'd left the team and his fight was horrible. He got knocked out but the ref was nice to him, so it was a very close fight," Bustamante told Extreme Fighter.
"Some people think Heath Herring won that fight. His second fight was against Sylvia , who was winning the fight but he made a mistake and he took advantage of Sylvia's mistake. The fight [against Mir] was the worst. It was like a soccer game where he couldn't even touch the ball.
To be fair to Nogueira, he was suffering from the after-effects of a bad staph infection when he fought Mir and had also recently undergone surgery. But Bustamante is adamant that it was not just ill health which ruined the former Pride champion's performance.
"I've never seen anyone fight like that, and I know Rodrigo has big potential. He could do much better than he did," he said.
Nogueira's next fight is against former UFC heavyweight champion Randy Couture at UFC 102, and Bustamante says the Brazilian may be in for a bad night unless he improves on his recent performances.
"If he doesn't change the way he trains, he is going to have problems with Randy for sure," the laconic Brazilian stated.
FO Staff
Picture: Murilo Bustamante talking to Fighters Only writer John O'Regan in 2008
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