While it’s always saddening to see a fighter hang up their gloves, it felt a little different when Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira did so yesterday, at least for me anyway.
My first true memory of mixed martial arts occurred when I discovered my father watching an early UFC VHS which he quickly shied me away from due to the initial brutality of the tournaments.
Then, close to ten years later, it was Nogueira’s haggard mug that drew me back into the sport.
It was probably 2003 and I was flipping through channels in the late hours of the night when all of a sudden I saw myself staring at what had to be a mistake.