The greatest Brazilian heavyweight of all-time put on a career defining performance against Brendan Schaub at UFC 134. It was Nogueira's first time to fight before a Brazilian crowd in a career spanning more than a decade of fighting at the highest levels of MMA in Japan and the United States.
UFC 134 results: Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira defeats Brendan Schaub via knockout at 3:09 of Round 1.
Schaub tagged the iron-chinned Nogueira several times but in the end Nog connected with a brutal 1-2 combination and followed up with more punches to drop Schaub and one last one on the ground to get the finish. Nogueira came off an 18 month layoff after hip and knee surgery. His last fight was a KO loss to current champion Cain Velasquez at UFC 110 in August 2010.
Schaub looked to be replaying the same game plan that had finished the aging legend Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic but Nogueira came back hard to finish Schaub.