Where did ‘Big Nog’ go wrong against Werdum?

According to coach Everaldo Penco, Jiu-Jitsu spoke louder to Minotauro and the legend changed plans at the last second. Photo: UFC

Rodrigo Minotauro and Fabrício Werdum clashed last Saturday, June 8 in Fortaleza. In the main event of TUF Brazil 2 Finale, the coaches of the second installment of the reality show had a rematch seven years after their first encounter. Despite the undeniable charisma of the yellow team’s leader, Big Nog’s legend status got most of the crowd rooting for him.

Very well prepared, Nogueira made Werdum feel the strength of his hands right away, but Werdum took the fight to the ground and got the tapout with an armbar.

What happened to the green team’s leader? After all, Nogueira is also a massive BJJ talent and has several impressive submissions on his record. We talked to Everaldo Penco, his Jiu-Jitsu coach, who explained what went wrong in the Werdum bout:

“Because Minotauro has experience in applying the guillotine, he spotted the chance and attemped it,” said the coach. “But that was not our plan, which I think was pretty clear in round one, when Werdum took Minotauro down and he moved so as to get up. He almost knocked Fabrício out later. That was the goal: To keep the bout standing and seek the knockout.

“But in round two Rodrigo chose to go for the neck instead of defending from the takedown. I believe he felt frustrated from not sinking it in and, of course, kudos go to Werdum for defending very well, as the excellent black belt we all know him to be.

“We believe the error came in deviating from the strategy, as if Minotauro had grabbed the neck and gotten too excited. As a friend and coach, I think his attempt to finish the fight was commendable, since he always tries to do that as well as possible, be it a knockout or a submission.”

And how about you? What did you think of Minotauro vs. Werdum? What could the MMA legend have done differently to win this fight?

TUF Brazil 2 Finale

Gymnasium Paulo Sarasate, Fortaleza, Ceará

June 8, 2013

Main card

Fabrício Werdum def. Rodrigo Minotauro via armbar at 2:41 of round two

Léo Santos def. William Patolino via katagatame at 4:43 of round two

Thiago Silva def. Rafael Feijão via KO at 4:29 of round one

Erick Silva caught Jason High in a reverse triangle at 1:11 of round one

Daniel Sarafian subbed Eddie Mendez via katagatame at 2:20 of round one

Rony Jason def. Mike Wilkinson via triangle at 1:24 of round one

Undercard

Raphael Assuncao def. Vaughan Lee by submission (armbar) at 1:51 of round two

Felipe Arantes def. Godofredo Castro by TKO at 3:32o of round one

Ildemar Alcantara def. Leandro Silva by unanimous decision (30-27, 30-27, 30-27)

Rodrigo Damm def. Mizuto Hirota by split decision (29-28, 28-29, 29-28)

Caio Magalhaes def. Karlos Vemola by submission (rear-naked choke) at 2:49 of round two

Antonio Braga Neto def. Anthony Smith by submission (kneebar) at 1:52 of round one