Phillipe Nover: From the ER to the Octagon

Quite the paradox: Heal others by day, fight them by night. That is the motto of Ultimate Fighter Finalist, Phillipe Nover.

During the day, Nover makes his living as a registered nurse in the ER of Coney Island Hospital in New York. Come nightfall, Nover trains at Universal Defense Systems with Ralph Mitchell in Brooklyn. UDS specializes in the arts of Filipino Arnis, Muay Thai, kick boxing, Fung-Fu, Judo, Jeet Kune Do, and Savate. Additionally, Nover has worked his way up to a brown belt in Jiu-Jitsu under Alexandre Freitas over the past eight years.

Nover will have the opportunity to change his life and realize his dreams when he faces off with Efrain Escudero for the UFC lightweight contract in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 8. The finale takes place on Saturday, December 13th in Las Vegas. Nover earned his spot in the finals with wins over Joe Duarte, Dave Kaplan, and George Roop.

All of Nover’s bouts have seemed largely uncontested as he tore through his competitors quickly and imperiously. This all came as quite the surprise to many people considering what occurred within the first five minutes of the show’s first episode. Perhaps nervous and suffering the from the blistering Las Vegas heat, Nover fainted while UFC President Dana White had the fighters lined up for the opening speech.

White quickly dubbed Nover, “Faintin’ Phillipe”. However, this nickname stuck around for no longer than a few hours when White got his first glimpse of Nover in the Octagon versus Joe Duarte. White quickly retracted his statement and since then continues to sing the praises and potential of the young Filipino.

After the initial taping of the show and before it began airing on TV, the internet community was flooded with the rumors that Dana White had found, “The next Anderson Silva at lightweight”. First reports pointed signs that it was Joe Duarte. Somewhere the wires got crossed and no one really questioned the validity of the original rumor. We obviously learned the validity of the rumor when Duarte was defeated by Nover. This left most of us asking, “Who is Phillipe Nover?”

The Nover onslaught continued with the aforementioned quarterfinal and semifinal bouts. The quarterfinal bout with Dave Kaplan ended quickly when a barrage of punches knocked Kaplan to the canvas. Nover quickly pounced, continued the relentless assault, and finally took the back of Kaplan and sunk in the rear naked choke.

The semifinal bout with George Roop ended in a similar yet opposing fashion. Nover came out with punishing combinations and scored a quick takedown. After being swept by Roop, Nover worked his clean Jiu-Jitsu from the bottom and forced a tap with a tightly locked kimura submission.

The current hype surrounding Nover is completely justified. His striking is unmatched and his ground game is full of dynamic technique. His aggressive tendencies work to his advantage and it seems anytime he throws a punch it lands cleanly and devastatingly. Nover has shown nothing but perfection thus far and has shown no indication that he has any holes in his games.

Needless to say, Nover is the total fighter package and embodies the spirit of true mixed martial artist. We should all expect great things for him the near future, regardless of the outcome of his upcoming bout with Efrain Escudero.