Phillipe J. Nover, is a retired Americanmixed martial artist. He is best known for making it to the finals of. He is a former Ring of Combat lightweight champion.
Nover normally fought as a welterweight but since 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, Nover 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 Nover reminds him of a young Georges St-Pierre. Nover defeated George Roop in the semi-finals via a kimura lock but ultimately lost in the Ultimate Fighter Finale on December 13, 2008 to Efrain Escudero via unanimous decision.
Phillipe Nover fought Kyle Bradley at UFC 98, losing by a controversial TKO at 1:03 of the first round. After taking down Nover, Bradley landed some heavy punches on his prone opponent. Nover was pulling guard ready to defend, however Referee Yves Lavigne stopped the fight. Lavigne was booed by the crowd for the remainder of the event. Phillipe Nover was set to fight Sam Stout at Ultimate Fight Night 19, replacing the injured Kyle Bradley. On September 16, 2009, the day of the fight, Nover had fainted. As a result, the match with Stout was cancelled. Nover then faced a fellow Ultimate Fighter alumni Rob Emerson at UFC 109 on February 6, 2010. Nover lost a controversial unanimous decision. Sherdog.com scored the bout 29-28 in favor of Nover. With a UFC record of 0-3, he was released from the promotion.
Post-UFC
After being released from the UFC, Nover continued to train MMA in New York and teach at a local mixed martial arts school. Nover 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. He replaced the last man to defeat him, Murphy's original opponent, Rob Emerson, who had to pull out of the fight due to injury. Nover won the fight by unanimous decision, 29-28 on all three judges' scorecards.
A few weeks after his win over Murphy, Nover was signed to fight in Bellator Fighting Championships. His debut came at Bellator 59 against Polish submission ace, Marcin Held. Nover lost via controversial split decision. During the bout, Nover 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 Nover. Nover 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, Nover faced Darrell Horcher at Bellator 95 on April 4, 2013. He won via unanimous decision.
Return to UFC
After five years away from the organization, Nover made his return to the UFC when he faced Yui Chul Nam in a featherweight bout on May 16, 2015 at. He won the fight via split decision. Nover next faced Zubaira Tukhugov on December 10, 2015 at UFC Fight Night 80. He lost the fight by split decision. Nover faced Renan Barão on September 24, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 95. He lost the fight by unanimous decision. Nover faced Rick Glenn on February 11, 2017 at UFC 208. He lost the back-and-forth fight by split decision. On February 15th, 2017 Nover announced his retirement from mixed martial arts.
Brazilian Jiu-jitsu
Before his fight with Efrain Escudero, Phillipe was awarded a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu by Alexandre "Soca" Freitas on Dec. 6, 2008. The ceremony took place at the Soca Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu Academy in New York. Phillipe has been studying BJJ since he was 17 years old. Nover faced his Ultimate Fighter Season 8 finale opponent Escudero in a submission-only match on November 9, 2013 at the World Jiu-Jitsu Expo; they fought to a draw. In his next match-up, a wrestling match at Grapple at the Garden on December 1, 2013, he was defeated by former UFC lightweight champion Frankie Edgar. Nover announced that he became a third degree black belt in January 2020.
