How Minotaur avoided the early stop

Anderson Silva prepares for what could be the last fight of his career. But if it weren’t for Rodrigo Minotauro, the Brazilian’s retirement would have occurred long before the fight against Uriah Hall in the UFC, scheduled for today (31), in Las Vegas, United States.

The “Spider” had few expressive results when he considered retiring in June 2003, after being subdued by Daiju Takase in the defunct Pride. But a request from Minotaur, already a legend of the Japanese event at the time, made Anderson agree to give his career one more shot.

“I said, ‘Anderson, not for now. Give me three more fights that I gave you to be world champion ”, Minotauro remembers.

The prognosis was perfect. The number of fights was enough for Anderson to become champion of the Cage Rage, a medium-sized tournament in England. It was the first step towards the UFC, an event in which he would become a legend.

Anderson and Minotauro met at a time when rivalries between academies prevailed in Brazil. The “Spider” belonged to the Chute Boxe of Curitiba, while Minotauro trained in the Brazilian Top Team. The interaction between members was as unlikely as a Palmeirense celebrating the Corinthians goal.

“I met Anderson in 2002, when he went to fight against Roan ‘Jucão’ Carneiro, who was from our academy. I started studying him to prepare Jucão’s strategy and, at that moment, I realized that he was the ‘boy’ . He knew how to score, if he played well on the ground, he had muay thai, from a distance. I started to become a fan of the boy, “he explains.

The glare became an association. At one point, Anderson trained in Chute Boxe and taught jiu-jitsu at CWB Sports, an academy in Curitiba founded by Minotauro and his brother Rogério Minotouro. “We met like this, totally out of combat, from the Octagon. We made a friendship and I saw that he was a different type. He caught my attention and I saw that he was a future world champion.”

The fight Anderson thought of retiring from already had the Minotaur finger. Legend of Pride, gave up the bonus he would receive for fighting Fedor Emelianenko in order to pay for the bag of “Spider”.

“Either I won the extra award or they put Anderson in the event. The award for best fight of the night was Anderson’s scholarship. At the time, he still wasn’t getting along with the Pride organization. He renewed one more fight. He went to Korea, England and came to the UFC, where the history of the organization changed. Thanks to him, the UFC became the great power of the sport. “

Minotaur convinced Popó’s coach to train Anderson