UFC 134 – Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira excited and motivated ahead of his Rio showdown with Brendan Schaub

Former UFC and PRIDE champion, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira has been giving his thoughts on preparing for his UFC 134 clash with Brendan Schaub later this month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil, explaining hs excited and motivated for this one.
Speaking via Tatame Magazine, Nogueira said:

“The prep is great, I’m having the support of my friends here, thanks’ God, like Pedro Rizzo, Anderson (Silva), Bigfoot, who came here and is helping me on this final phase of the trainings and he’ll do a camp for his fight here and he’s helping on my camp too, so he’s getting back his conditioning and he’ll be prepared and so will I, and he’s helping me on that matter. There’s also Junior (dos Santos), Rafael Feijao, who’s my training partner and helped me a lot. The expectations are high. There’s that pressure of fighting at home and representing the Brazilian people, and it’ll be almost my 40th bout… I’m super motivated.”

“It’ll be my first fight here, so I’m excited about it, I’m really motivated. Four months ago I was using crutches to help me walk, and now being here training with high level athletes proves I overcame many obstacles, we did a hard and strong work with the physiotherapist Angela Cortez, and the team is really strong for UFC Rio. Me, Anderson Silva and Erick Silva will fight hard.”

Nogueira will step back into the octagon after sixteen months away when he takes on Brendan Schaub on the UFC 134 card next month in Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. Expect the notion of retirement to cross the mind of Dana White if this legendary Jiu-Jitsu fighter walks away with anything less than a win in this one.