After leaving a trail of defeated heavyweights from Japan to Las Vegas, he is regarded as the best mixed martial arts fighter in the world. At 31, he is the only fighter in history to hold PRIDE FC and UFC titles at the same time.

He is the Tiger Woods or Michael Jordan of mixed martial arts and one of the most recognized sports figures in Japan and Brazil. With the increased popularity of the UFC cards in the United States, he is gaining a foothold among mainstream athletes.

After conquering life-threatening injuries as a child and becoming a superstar in the sport, his lifelong dream comes true Friday.

Nogueira and longtime friend Anderson "Spider" Silva, the UFC middleweight champion, will open the Nogueira and Silva Mixed Martial Arts Academy in downtown Miami. It is the only club in the country headed by two current UFC champions.

The grand opening is 6-9 p.m. A three-hour seminar with Nogueira and Silva, and a membership-drive, is Saturday 2-5 p.m.

Earlier this week, Nogueira was named one of the coaches for season eight of Spike TV's The Ultimate Fighter, one of the most watched mixed martial arts shows on television.

The season premier is Sept. 17 at 10 p.m. The exposure will only add to his popularity and help promote his next UFC pay-per-view fight against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir at a site and date still to be announced by UFC president Dana White.

For Nogueira, a single father of a 7-year-old daughter, the real fight began in a Vitoria da Conquista, Brazil hospital 20 years ago.

Nogueira, then 11, was playing with childhood friends when a neighbor didn't see them and backed his truck into Nogueira, nearly crushing him. The impact left him in a coma for four days. It changed his life forever, he said, and helped to define who he is today.

"For sure, it is what made me strong," Nogueira said. "I was born with natural talent and started fighting when I was 4 years old in judo. But after the accident my mind became stronger because I had such a hard time. First, it was my head that got strong ... then my body."

It took Nogueira nearly a year to recover in the hospital.

"I had such a very hard time in the beginning," Nogueira said. "I wanted to survive and build my body again. There was physical therapy for my legs and my lungs. I had to rebuild the muscles around my diaphragm. It made my mind strong for sure."

He needed 300 stitches to sew his body back together. He lost part of his lung. He had two cracked ribs and his spleen removed. He needed time to heel a torn Achilles' tendon, crushed knee and bruised liver.

"The fights are easy compared to what I went through," smiled Nogueira, who after a succession of surgeries was whole again. He still has physical therapy, acupuncture and weight training three days a week.

"Most of today's fighters when they get injured they stop. I am tough, it is my passion. When I get hurt, I fix it and go back fighting. It is my strength and prayers that got me this far."

"We prayed for him every day," said his sister, Juliana Nogueira. "It was very hard on us, too ... very emotional but we stayed together as a family and watched him turn around his life. It was a miracle."

"Nothing compares to when you are in coma and you hear voices and think you are dying," Nogueira said. "Then you come out of the coma and hear more voices saying you will not walk, not play sports, not be normal. And all the time your mind is fighting back saying, you will be strong, you will fight. I think I have been fighting ever since."

Nogueira spent his early years (1994-1999) living in Deerfield Beach, where he trained and competed. He started his first gym in Fort Lauderdale in 1999, but it lasted less than two years.

"We tried but the sport was very small at that time," he said.

Nogueira's mother, Marina, and other sister, Jainile, live in Pompano Beach. His two brothers live in Brazil including twin, Antonio Rogerio, also a top fighter, who is expected to join him next summer. Though Nogueira also has an academy in Brazil he plans to call Miami his home base.

Nogueira said he is taking advantage of MMA's increased popularity to market himself and the sport in the United States.

Holding two belts simultaneously with a 31-4-1 record, Nogueira said the timing was right to open his first academy in the United States.

"I have a couple more years in me to fight," Nogueira said. "I just don't want to break somebody's face. It was a dream to me also to make the academy, form a team and teach.

"I had something to do in my life and God gave me a second chance after the accident. I show I have heart. I keep coming back. I don't think only of myself. I think about this sport and show people what we are all about. I have a lot of things to show."

Sharon Robb can be reached at This e-mail address is being protected from spambots, you need JavaScript enabled to view it