'Minotauro' Nogueira talks retirement, missing the adrenaline and Fedor Emelianenko

Recently retired heavyweight Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira said he’ll miss fight preparation and “the adrenaline of competition” as he segues into a role as a Brazilian ambassador for the UFC.

“And it’s the fans, before and after the fight,” he told MMAjunkie Radio today. “Win or lose, you’ve got good fans that will support you.”

Nogueira (34-10-1 MMA, 5-6 UFC), 39, an ex-PRIDE and UFC interim heavyweight champ, officially retired Tuesday as one of the more beloved veterans of the sport. After 16 years of professional fighting, and a late-career slump in which he went 2-5 in the UFC and struggled with injuries, he accepted his new job as a link between the UFC and its athletes, sponsors, media and government agencies.

“Big Nog” said he struggled initially with the decision to call it quits despite three straight losses in the UFC. But ultimately he decided that working behind the scenes with the next generation of fighters is a job he’s happy to do.

“If you ask me if I want to fight, of course, the fighter says I want to fight,” he said. “But I think the UFC’s Brazil office is a big company here, and the last show in Rio (de Janeiro) was amazing. We had guys working with the company … on the back end, working with the crowds, with people, and relationships between the fighters and the company. I would love to work with those guys.”

Among his proudest achievements in the sport, Noguiera counted his wins of the PRIDE heavyweight title in 2001 via decision over Heath Herring and the UFC interim heavyweight title in 2008 via submission over Tim Sylvia.

“I became a fighter watching the UFC, watching Royce Gracie,” he said. “I was very proud to get (the UFC) belt and become the UFC champ.”

He also gave well-wishes to the man who took his PRIDE belt and faced him in a trio of iconic fights. He said if reports of the Fedor Emelianenko’s return to MMA after a three-year retirement prove true, he will tune in.

“I’m very excited to watch him,” Nogueira said. “For me, he’s the most respectful fighter I ever fought. I faced him three times in three big fights, and I have memories of each fight and each camp. It was my biggest challenge. I hope he’s going to do well.

“He wasn’t given the best couple fights, but in his last fight, he beat Pedro Rizzo. But I hope he has luck.”

Asked how the Russian would fare in a rematch with Fabricio Werdum, who in 2010 snapped his 10-year win streak and went on to become UFC heavyweight champ, Nogueira conceded, “It’s going to be a tough fight for him, for sure.”

As Emelianenko slumped in his later career, Nogueira remained a holdout and managed to pull off several wins in the UFC, among them an armbar of jiu-jitsu antagonist Dave Herman and an upset of the surging Brendan Schaub in 2011. Most of his highs, however, came under the now-defunct PRIDE banner, where he once fought and beat Bob Sapp in front of a reported crowd in excess of 90,000 in Japan.

Nogueira’s Brazilian Top Team once feuded with another Brazilian powerhouse, Chute Boxe. Over time, however, the rivalry faded, and he went on to train and mentor now-ex middleweight champ Anderson Silva, who became the winningest champ in UFC history before a pair of losses to champ Chris Weidman and a drug test failure this year. Today, he thinks Chute Boxe’s biggest PRIDE star, Wanderlei Silva, is a “cool guy” and wished his feud with the UFC would end.

Silva was recently sued by the industry leader for alleging fight-fixing, a move that capped a long PR battle between the ex-champ and the promoter. Silva successfully sued to overturn a lifetime ban issued by the Nevada State Athletic Commission after he fled a drug test in connection with UFC 175, but has yet to go before the commission to decide his fate. Meanwhile, the UFC has blocked his efforts to work with at least one promotion.

Asked whether he might be able to act as a peacemaker between the parties, Nogueira indicated his abilities were limited.

“That’s a bad situation,” Nogueira said. “He always has been a great fighter and an example to a lot of guys. I hope this thing will be different; he was a big name, and he still is in Brazil. He pushes a lot of guys into jiu-jitsu and muay Thai. I like Wanderlei; he’s a cool guy. But the thing is between him and the UFC. I can’t solve these problems.”

While competition in jiu-jitsu and other martial arts isn’t out of the realm of possibility for Nogueira, he said he has no plans to indulge his urges to step onto the mat. For now, he is dedicating himself to guiding others on the road he walked to fame and fortune.

“I love to be training, and I’m very healthy to do that,” he said. “But for the first few months, I will spend most of my time working with new fighters, working with the new generation. I’m very excited to be doing this job.”

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