“The first time I had Singha, I was at a Thai restaurant and randomly ordered it. It’s a great beer. Singha goes good with any noodle dish, and I especially like it with Pad-Thai or Pad-see-ew.” — Phillipe Nover, MMA Fighter at the UFC.
Phillipe Nover is an American mixed martial artist. He is best known for making it to the finals of The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir. He had an interesting story of how he got into the UFC, left, and returned back to this organization.
Phillipe normally fought as a welterweight but since The Ultimate Fighter: Team Nogueira vs. Team Mir only had an opening for lightweights and light-heavyweights, he had to cut weight to be able to participate. Dana White called him “Fainting Phillipe” because he had fainted when White was announcing the coaches. In the preliminary round, Nover defeated Joe Duarte with a rear naked choke in the second round. On episode 8, he defeated Dave Kaplan, again via rear naked choke then proclaimed himself as the toughest registered nurse on the planet. In the same episode Dana White mentioned that Phillipe reminds him of a young Georges St-Pierre. Phillipe defeated George Roop in the semi-finals via a kimura lock. Phillipe lost in the Ultimate Finale on December 13, 2008 to Efrain Escudero via unanimous decision.
After being released from the UFC, Phillipe continued to train MMA in New York and teach at a local mixed martial arts school. Phillipe took a year off from competing to focus on his coaching and nursing careers. He had a few Muay Thai matches before returning to compete in MMA. He returned to the cage after an 18-month layoff to meet Jake Murphy, a Greg Jackson-trained fighter, at Hoosier Fight Club 8 on August 20, 2011.
A few weeks later, Phillipe was signed to fight in Bellator Fighting Championships. His debut came at Bellator 59 against Polish submission ace, Marcin Held. He lost via controversial split decision. During the bout, Phillipe was able to dominate on the stand-up and maintain top position on the ground as well as display strong submission defense. However, two of the three judges score Held’s multiple submission attempts. Sherdog.com scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Phillipe.
He faced Derrick Kennington on September 28, 2012 at Bellator 74. He won the fight via submission in the second round. In his third fight for the promotion, he faced Darrell Horcher at Bellator 95 on April 4, 2013. He won via unanimous decision.
After five years away from the organization, Phillipe made his return to the UFC when he faced Yui Chul Nam in a featherweight bout on May 16, 2015 at UFC Fight Night: Edgar vs. Faber. He won the fight via split decision.
Since his return, he has had several more fights, and now he more focused than ever in his MMA training. But despite his strict training regimen, Phillipe makes time to enjoy noodle dishes the right way… with a Singha.