I missed Saturday night’s UFC, but they’ve shared an x-ray image of Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira’s arm, after Frank Mir broke it with a Kimura (or reverse ude-garami) arm-bar, and the experts at All Powers Physio have analyzed the damage:
The fight was a rematch following Mir’s KO victory against Nogeuira back at UFC 92 where he won the UFC Interim HW title for the 2nd time, and became the first person to KO “Big Nog”.
In a 1st round of heavy punches thrown by both fighters it was the ground game which proved the turning point for Mir. A sequence of sweeps and submission attempts started when Nogueira attempted to take Mir’s back. Mir slipped out, scrambled to the top position and latched onto Nogueira’s right arm and attempted a kimura shoulder lock.
A kimura is a submission attempt from side control or guard where the wrist of your opponent is stabilised with figure four grip and the arm is extended and internally rotated to the limits of soft tissue and joint congruency whilst stopping movement of the trunk. Also known as a medial or reverse key lock or in judo as a ude-garami, the usual injuries one suffers at the hands of this technique are a rotator cuff muscle tear and ligamentous or labral cartilage damage. However, with the potential force of a heavyweight grappler such as Mir, against an immovable object such as Nogueira who would always be reluctant to tap, the damage can obviously be more extensive.
The X-ray picture at the top of this post was tweeted by the UFC following UFC 140 and demonstrates the obvious fracture and dislocation of the humerus (upper arm bone) of Nogueira.
The pleading eyes of Mir to the the referee in this picture show that Mir obviously knew immediately the damage he had done, which was clarified following the event. Mir explained “When I locked up Nogeuira, I had a strong inclination he was not going to tap, So I took a deep breath and you guys saw what happened.” And what we saw was a devastating submission worthy of the $75K SOTN bonus, but an awful injury for one of the sport’s true legendary figures.
Obviously the dangers are inherent in Jiu Jitsu grappling but a word to the wise…
It is easier, quicker and a lot less painful to heal a bruised ego than it is to plate and fix a bone. Tap before Snap, always!