Nogueira showed off his reknowned jiu-jitsu expertise in sparring, making a point of showing off his kimura and anaconda choke techniques. Nogueira looked to be in top form, as he himself made a note of his extraordinary condition," I feel in good condition, Japan's climate is a lot like Brazil's."
But what occupied Nogueira's mind the most was his opponent, AMC Pankration's Josh Barnett. Nogueira spoke frankly about what he saw in his September 10th opponent, "We're looking for Barnett to use some kind of throwing technique to take the fight to the ground. If he takes top, expect a stalemate. But Barnett's weakness is being on his back. We've already seen in his fight with Mirko that he has problems off of his back." Darrell Gholar, Brazillian Top Team's long-time wrestling coach ,was bought in to advance Nogueira's wrestling ability for the bout.
Nogueira also had his personal complaints about Barnett: "He's said jiu-jitsu is unneccessary to fight with a lot of confidence. But all of his techniques are from jiu-jitsu."
Nogueira also predicted an all-Brazillian final: "Mirko has a lot of technique in his stand-up, but what Wanderlei has is that he always comes forward. I have a feeling I'll be facing Silva in the finals."
From Complete Vale Tudo Access
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