Soca gave me my black belt on Dec 6th!!!!

Training for the Efrain!

I do 16 laps with the "Kalabaw" also known as the water buffalo around the farm. Then I pick him up on my shoulders and do 40 squats. It's a great work out! (This is in the Philippines on my cousins farm in a province called Nueva Ecija. )

Interview from www.cagepotato.com

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This afternoon I got a chance to meet up with The Ultimate Fighter 8 lightweight finalist Phillipe "The Filipino Assassin" Nover at Fighthouse in New York City. (Coincidentally, this is the gym where I've been taking Muay Thai lessons for the last two months. So yeah, I guess you could say I'm pretty badass.) Anyway, Nover was cool enough to chat with me about his match-up with Efrain Escudero at the TUF 8 finale next Saturday, working as a registered nurse, living without bathroom privacy as a reality TV star, and his official prediction for Bader vs. Vinny; he also had a special shout-out for his Filipino fans. Later, he hit pads and rolled with a couple guys from his Team Insight crew, and tried to stay loose despite the fact that we were surrounded by a bunch of dudes with sniper rifles and one guy who was, no shit, wearing a terrorist-style dynamite vest (proof at the end of the video). Never a dull moment at Fighthouse. Thanks to Spike TV for the invite.

(BG)

Episodes 11 and 12

First, let me start by apologizing for the late blog post. I received the DVD the day of the episode and I’ve been so busy.

Episodes 11 and 12.

Bader vs. Marshall -

I thought Bader did his thing. He is a great wrestler with unbelievable power! It wasn’t the most exiting fight but he pulled out the win! I personally thought Elliot should have thrown less high kicks and stay in ow stances and focus on the punching. All the credit to Bader. I wasn’t happy how Mir said Bader wasn’t a good fighter and that he was just a wrestler. That was plain wrong — Bader is a great fighter!

Myself vs. Roop -

Going into the fight I had so much respect for Roop. He was a great person to hang around with. It’s so much easier fighting someone who you don’t like. But I liked the guy. We shared food and chatted all the time. I had to put that aside. The other obstacle in my mind before the fight was how tough Roop was mentally. His thumb was really bad and lot of fighters would have backed out. He had a war with Polakowski a week before he had to throw down with me and has no hesitation in doing so. He is one tough dude. In fact, after the win, I went over to him and called him “The toughest dude in the house” but that wasn’t shown. He really was the toughest.

The strategy I had was to go out there and overwhelm him with big shots — and sub him. I wanted to cut the distance fast and stay out of his kicking range. I was swept and stayed cool. As soon as I locked that Kimura I stayed relaxed and slowly adjusted my hips and legs. Right after the fight I felt so free. It was the last day living in the house and a few hours later I was able to call my family and friends.

Side note: The actual fights occurred as follows: Wednesday: Bader vs. Marshall then Efrain vs. Junie. Thursday: Myself vs. Roop and then Krzysztof vs. Vinny. This also meant I didn’t sleep much on Wednesday night before the semi’s. There were only four fighters left in the house who needed to fight and I was one of them. Everyone else was in crazy party drinking mode. Wednesday was nuts! I had to put in ear plugs and cover my head with a pillow. Then I moved my mattress into the closet to stay away from the singing.

After the fight, Dana had some more great words about me. He really thinks I’m a great fighter. He even said “I think this guy is one of the best fighters ever to get on this show.” This really blew my mind. I was silent for a minute just thinking it over. It’s a lot of pressure but I’m just going to keep doing what I’m doing. Training everyday like my life depends on it.

Vinny vs. Krzysztof -

Again I can add that Vinny is a beast on the ground! His guard is nuts. Once in his guard the trouble begins. Props to both fighters.

Efrain vs. Junie -

I like the way Dana handled Junie this season. He knew Junie wanted an out and if would have gotten thrown out he would have left with all his pride. Dana didn’t let that happen.

As for the fight itself, Efrain played it smart. I knew Junie wasn’t going to take Efrain down. When I saw Junie shoot in and Efrain stuff it, I knew it was going to end soon. The elbow strikes when Junie shot in were genius. Junie said some things after the fight that made him look even worse. I know he didn’t mean he was going to give up fighting. He’s on the card against Kaplan!

The finals -

Efrain and I are good friends. We slept in the same room. We cooked together. We chatted all day. We know a lot about each other. I respect him as a fighter and as a man. It’s all business when the cage door shuts. He knows it and I know it. I am honored to fight him.

New 8 count interview!!!

http://www.8countnews.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1177/2008-12-02.html

UFC profile - Article by Thomas Gerbasi on ufc.com

http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=news.detail&gid=16055

Check out this link for details.

Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira Profile - Phillipe Nover

By Thomas Gerbasi

www.8countnews.com-Article on me!!!

The Next Manny Pacquiao May not even be a Boxer

Tue, 25 Nov 2008 21:30:37
(http://www.8countnews.com/news/117/ARTICLE/1161/2008-11-25.html)


By

Dennis Guillermo

If you haven’t heard of him yet, you will soon enough. “I am the toughest registered nurse on the planet right now.” said Phillipe Nover after moving on to the semifinals of the Ultimate Fighter show in Spike TV. I must say, it’s hard to dispute that claim.

The great and current UFC heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira described him as a lightweight that punches like a heavyweight. “I have never seen a guy hit as hard as you.” were Big Nog’s words for Phillipe before he went inside the octagon to face the highly touted Dave Kaplan in episode 8 of the Ultimate Fighter show. “When this kid fights, he fights for real!” he added. That’s high praise coming from one of the legends of the mixed martial arts game. Remind you of anyone in particular?

“From what I see in this kid right now, he reminds me of a GSP.” said Dana White, the head honcho of UFC.

Well from what I saw, he reminds me of Manny Pacquiao. No lie… he looks that good.

Born and raised in Brooklyn New York, the 24-year-old Fil-Am ER nurse Nover is as Filipino as it gets. I did say nurse didn’t I? Pardon the stereotype, but there’s more to Phillipe than his choice of profession that juxtaposes him to his Filipino roots. For one, he has that Manny Pacquiao power in his fists. And as much as there have been talks about up and coming Filipino fighters and boxers out there following Pacquiao’s footsteps, I have never been reminded of any fighter of Pacquiao more than Phillipe when Pacquiao first broke into the American boxing scene. This kid Nover is for real. He has the qualities that any fight fan will love and definitely get a lot of Filipinos to follow his career the way Manny Pacquiao caught the Filipino people and the world’s imagination.

I say that, not only because of the way he fights, but also because of the way he conducts himself. Nover is a humble and well spoken guy that does his talking inside the octagon. He is proud of his heritage as shown in the show when he introduced “balut” to his teammates and even displayed a little poster he made in their bathroom that said “Sipag at Tiyaga” written in the colors of the Philippine flag. His fights are always exciting and he really hits like he has brass knuckles hidden in his gloves.

Phillipe has an unblemished MMA record and will be fighting in the semifinals of the Ultimate Fighter to be aired on December 3^rd on Spike. I will be interviewing Phillipe this coming week to get his thoughts on his upcoming match, his background and pretty much anything under the sun so watch out for that.

I really have a feeling this guy will be something special. I wouldn’t be surprised if one day you see tens of Filipino flags waiving in a UFC event the way you see them in the most recent Journey world tour and Pacquiao fights the past 7 years. I may sound like I’m putting too much faith and pressure on a relatively unknown Filipino fighter, but I’m sure that’s nothing compared to the pressure an ER presents. With that said, I really believe this guy has what it takes no matter what pressure he gets put under. Hell, he’s an ER nurse and a heck of a mixed martial arts fighter after all.