After 11-Year Hiatus, Alexandre Franca Nogueira Returns for Special Rules Bout in Japan

  After 11 years of retirement, Alexandre Franca Nogueira is making a comeback.

The 47-year-old “King of the Guillotine” has accepted a special invitation from Japanese promotion Roman Combat to face another previously retired veteran, 41-year-old Hatsu Hioki, who last competed against Mikur Azakura at Rizin 12 in 2018. The 155-pound bout will take place on Saturday at Gen Sports Palace in Tokyo.

“The best moments of my career were in Japan. When the Japanese promoter invited me to fight there against another veteran, I immediately accepted,” said Nogueira, who is known in Brazil by the nickname “Pequeno,” which means small.

A Shooto champion between 1999 and 2005, Nogueira likes the special rules of the event.

“One round of 15 minutes, with gi in Pride rules and the weigh-ins 20 minutes before each fight. I loved that,” said Nogueira.

Known for his amazing guillotine technique that finished the likes of Rumina Sato, Stephen Palling and Noboru Asahi, “Pequeno” revealed that he did special training for this fight with a gi, but his final goal will be the same.

“Since I also graduated as a black belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, I was able to train with some top black belts here in Rio. Hioki deserves all my respect since he faced some of the toughest names of his generation like Charles Oliveira, Dan Hooker, Clay Guida — but I studied his game and will try to impose my game plan, which is no secret: close the distance, take him down and neutralize him with my guillotine.”

The Brazilian arrived in Japan on Monday and revealed to Sherdog that he is already on weight for the fight.

“I just can't wait to feel the energy of the Japanese crowd and try to give them my best performance,” said Nogueira, who is still considered in Brazil to be the No. 1 Luta-Livre representative in MMA history, with Alexandre Cacareco and Johil de Oliveira coming in second and third, respectively.