Despite leading Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) President Dana White to believe he was calling it quits following last weekend's loss to Stefan Struve (details), Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira isn't fully committing to his mixed martial arts (MMA) retirement just yet.
That's according to comments "Big Nog" made to Revista Combate, insisting that he'll continue to train and see where it goes from there.
His words (via MMA Fighting):
"I will continue training. I haven't said if I will stop fighting for now. The fight just ended now, I will still see what I'm going to do. I will come back to training. I love to train, I love being in a camp. People ask me what's the most important moment for me, and it's not fighting, winning, or losing, it's the daily training. I'm addicted to this."
White has already offered Nogueira a cushy front-office job with ZUFFA -- a la Chuck Liddell and Matt Hughes -- should he, in fact, call it a day inside the Octagon.
An offer the submission specialist will take when the time comes.
"I will work with the UFC, for sure. Dana White is interested in having me working with the fighters, bringing more athletes to the organization, new talents. I love to work with athletes. I have 64 professional athletes in my gym, and I find new athletes every day. I like to be at the events, see who are the prospects, but also help them backstage. He said he's interested and I immediately accepted the job. We will work with the UFC in the future."
While many feel there isn't much left for "Big Nog" to prove inside the cage, he believes he still has some unfinished business with Frank Mir, the only man to ever knock him out and submit him. Perhaps a third and final fight against the former heavyweight champ will finally convince him to end his combat sports career.
"That's one of the things that I would think about before retiring. [Mir] had ups and downs. He was coming off four losses and has now won two in a row."
Like Nogueira, Mir found himself on the brink of retirement following four straight defeats -- until he turned it around with two impressive knockout victories over Antonio Silva and Todd Duffee.
And since Mir is tentatively scheduled to face Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191 on Sept. 5, 2015, the chances of matchmakers booking a trilogy fight against Nogueira are slim to none.
Even if Mir comes up short against "The Pitbull."