Nog's camp responds to Frank Mir.

MMA junkie
http://mmajunkie.com/news/16089/minotauro-nogueira-if-frank-mir-thinks-i-was-making-excuses-then-lets-go-do-it-again.mma

Quote :

"Minotauro" Nogueira: If Frank Mir thinks I was making excuses, then let's go do it again
by John Morgan on Sep 04, 2009 at 7:45 pm ET
UFC heavyweight Frank Mir (12-4 MMA, 10-4 UFC) doesn't have much good to say about Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (32-5-1 MMA, 3-1 UFC) these days.

Mir has taken exception to the numerous "excuses" – such as a severe staph infection that hospitalized the Brazilian, as well as torn meniscus – laid out by UFC president Dana White, UFC announcer Joe Rogan and "Minotauro" himself as to why the Nogueira that lost to Frank Mir in December 2008 was different than the one that defeated Randy Couture in the main event of this past Saturday's UFC 102 in Portland, Ore.

Nogueira's been listening to Mir's complaints, and now he's ready to reply.

MMAjunkie.com (UFC blog for UFC news, UFC rumors, fighter interviews and event previews/recaps | MMAjunkie.com) today spoke with Ed Soares, Nogueira's manager, and the Brazilian had a message to deliver through his representative.

"Rodrigo just got off the phone with me, and we were talking about it," Soares said. "Rodrigo's been watching a lot of these interviews with Mir saying that Nogueira is just making excuses, and what Nogueira feels is he's not making excuses. If he was making excuses, he would have been saying that immediately after the fight with Mir.

"He wanted to come out and put on a good performance against Mir, and he's not making excuses now. He's giving the reason he performed the way he did back in December."

In an interview with RawVegas.tv, Mir criticized the on-air performance of Rogan during the UFC 102 broadcast for repeatedly referring to Nogueira's injuries prior to the UFC 92 contest.

"I heard that Rogan is making a lot of excuses for certain fighters for why they performed badly," Mir said. "That's always disheartening to me just for the reason being that every fighter has reasons why we don't perform at 100 percent. I think as fans we don't want to hear heroes or warriors ever sitting and complaining that they almost died from staph or anything else. I think that's pretty sad and pathetic."

Nogueira said little after the UFC 92 loss to Mir, and he only addressed the injuries prior to that bout when pressed by reporters at UFC 102's post-fight press conference.

"I had a staph infection," Nogueira said after UFC 102. "I was in the hospital for seven days just like 20 days before the fight. The day I came out of the hospital I tore my meniscus in my left [knee]."

Soares today said those comments were never meant as excuses for the loss.

"There's a big difference between making excuses and giving the reason why," Soares said. "And just to prove that Nogueira is not making excuses, he wants his next fight to be against Mir, and he wants to fight him in December."

Mir is currently rumored to be facing Cheick Kongo at UFC 107 on Dec. 12 in Memphis, Tenn. But as witnessed by the recent scrapping of a previously announced rematch between Dan Henderson and Rich Franklin, the UFC has been known to shuffle matchups when the situation dictates the change.

Soares and Nogueira hope the bad blood building between their camp and Mir can prove to be one of those situations.

"Nogueira didn't want the information about his injuries to come out, and that's proof that he wasn't making excuses," Soares said. "If Mir really thinks he was making excuses, then let's get in there and go in the octagon in December.

"We want it."

Maybe Nog can finally remove the giant horseshoe that made its way back into Mir's ass once and for all.

Lol, yeah. It's time for Mir to have another horseshoe removed from his ass.

Seriously, forget Chieck Kongo. Nog vs. Mir at 107.

Mir would be the ideal fight and if Nog is impressive in victory over Mir than it would be hard not to give Nog a bid for the title.

I wanted this rematch about 30 sec into the Couture fight. Make it happen Joe!