Three tidbits from the Brazilian Beat....

[Nuno]

From www.fullcontactfighter.com


# Rodrigo "Minotauro" Nogueira is currently in Cuba training boxing with the Brazilian Olympic Boxing team. Nogueira did some training with them to improve his boxing skills in Brazil, and got an invitation to train some more with them while they are preparing in Cuba since Brazil lacks in super heavyweights. Rumors were flying that Minotauro was also aiming for a shot at the Olympic games in boxing, but this is not the case. According to his manager, Mario Sperry, Minotauro is there just to improve his skills and will be flying to Japan in the coming days to meet Sperry and help him out with his PRIDE BUSHIDO fight. Minotauro will be fighting in the PRIDE Heavyweight GP and will not try to take part into any Olympic games trials.

# UFC Light-Heavyweight Champion Vitor Belfort returned to Brazil after his doctor stoppage win over Randy Couture at the last UFC, and barely had the time or the mindset to celebrate. Soon after he arrived in Brazil, Belfort got back to his campaign to find his missing sister. Priscila Belfort has been missing for several weeks now, and no information has turned up yet. "The Phenom" has appeared on some of Brazil's biggest TV shows in recent days, always talking about his sister and appearing quite sad, not in a celebratory mood at all. During his speeches on TV shows, Vitor also stated he would like to face PRIDE champion Wanderlei Silva to unify the belts of the two biggest shows in the MMA world.

# Wanderlei Silva left for Japan on February 9th for his fight against Ikuhisa Minowa at PRIDE BUSHIDO. Silva trained very hard for this fight and is seeing this as a great opportunity not only for him, but also for the Chute Boxe team as a whole, as his teammates Mauricio Shogun Rua and Jadyson Costa are fighting on the card as well. Silva spoke with FCF about his upcoming fight and future challenges, as you'll be able to see here in this column in the coming days. Both young fighters, Shogun and Jadyson, also left for Japan the same day as Wanderlei, along with trainers Rudimar Fedrigo and Rafael Cordeiro. Jorge "Macaco "Patino is joining them as well on their voyage to the land of the Rising Sun to be in the fighters' corners in his first appearance as a member of the Chute Boxe team. Mauricio "Shogun" Rua told FCF he is weighing 97 kg now and is already working to lose the 4 extra kilos for his fight against Akihiro Gono at Bushido. Word is that Shogun may appear as a heavyweight very soon.