What can be said about Frank Mir that hasn’t been said time and time again? With 14 victories inside the Octagon, he is the winningest heavyweight in the history of the UFC.
In addition, the Vegas-born fighter has incredible submission skills as well as a black belt in kenpo karate. These skills led Mir to a pair of world titles, as well as wins against some of the biggest names that the sport has ever seen, including Brock Lesnar, “Minotauro” Nogueira, Mirko Cro Cop and more.
That being said, Mir’s biggest wins came against a rookie who was greener than the Garden of Eden and fading stars who had waved bye-bye to their competitive primes years earlier.
When facing the top stars of the modern era, Mir was on the receiving end of beatdowns from the likes of Shane Carwin, Junior dos Santos and Lesnar, who avenged the prior loss in violent fashion.
On Saturday night, Mir was absolutely manhandled by Olympian Daniel Cormier en route to a unanimous-decision victory. It was the second consecutive loss for Mir, who had never previously suffered a losing streak.
Many question whether or not Frank has what it takes to be relevant in the title scene. After all, he has lost decisively to the guys at the top of the division and does not match up well stylistically with reigning champion Cain Velasquez.
Is this the end of the road for Mir? That depends on what you mean by the term.
There are no signs to indicate that Mir is ready to call it quits. He seems happy with his new relationship under coach Greg Jackson and will likely compete several more times before calling it a career.
Under no circumstances do I see a scenario where Mir becomes a world champion again. His current skid has him no less than three wins away from another shot at the belt. Considering that Mir tends to fight no more than twice in a calendar year, the jiu-jitsu wizard would be 36 years old by the time he would challenge for gold.
Then again, what do I know? Along with most of the MMA world, I’ve had doubts about Mir ever since his 2004 motorcycle accident, and since that time, the guy has found the most success of his life.
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