Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira avoids talk of retirement and puts himself back in the title picture according to Dana White

Former UFC and PRIDE heavyweight champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has put himself back in the title picture according to UFC President, Dana White following his impressive first round knockout win over Brendan Schaub last night in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, something that helped forego further talk of an impending retirement from the sport.
Speaking via MMAJunkie.com, Dana said:

“I talked to Nogueira after his last fight and talked to him about retiring. He was pretty pissed off about that. That’s why when I came out and was talking about Tito (Ortiz), and Tito won that fight, Nogueira was one of the guys that really jumped on Tito’s side and said, ‘Listen, he doesn’t make this [expletive] decisions. We do.’ But it’s not true. I do make those decisions.”

“I’m not going to let this thing be boxing. When a guy is done, we know when he’d done. I don’t want to make one dollar of that kind of money. I don’t.”

When asked about whether the Brazilian could challenge for the title with a string of victories, Dana responded:

“It’s not a matter of how many victories. It’s who he fights.”

Nogueira was in attendance at the post-fight press conference and gave his thoughts on returning from a year of rehab to pick up perhaps the biggest win of his professional career.

“Of course (I never considered retirement). People, I made a tremendous effort to overcome – to come back to fighting, to come back to fight in Brazil – so I would not look at this fight as my test. I had three surgeries; I’m only human. I was on crutches. I have callouses on my hands because I spent five months on crutches. Three-and-a-half months ago, I got rid of the crutches and started training. Many people didn’t believe in me. I think the Brazilian people should believe in me more.”

“I hate to admit it, but when I was walking to the ring, I was super nervous. I was so nervous that I couldn’t really look up to the crowd. It was only after I finished the fight that I actually looked up to the crowd and realized and saw just how much noise was being made.”

Nogueira will no help his good friend and training partner, Junior dos Santos prepare for his UFC 139 clash with current champion, Cain Velasquez, a fight many are tipping the Brazilian to win. If he doesn’t I’m sure Nogueira will have his own designs on the heavyweight title, as well as a potential rematch with one Frank Mir…