If Brock Lesner were to return to the UFC there are a few matchups that would make sense for him. Frank Mir is one of those potential opponents — and that fact is not lost on the former UFC heavyweight champion.
Mir said after his win over Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva on Sunday night that he would “absolutely” be interested in a trilogy bout with the pro-wrestling star if Lesnar re-signs with the UFC after his contract is up with WWE in the spring.
“I think it would be a huge, big fight,” Mir said at the UFC Fight Night 61 post-fight press conference in Porto Alegre, Brazil. “I think it’s something that would catapult my name even higher up. I mean, a rubber match between the two of us would be a phenomenal fight. To keep that anywhere in the works, I had to get a win tonight.”
Mir (17-9) got it in emphatic fashion, too, starching “Bigfoot” with a huge left hook and finishing him on the ground with nasty elbows at 1:40 of the very first round. After more than a year away, the decorated, 14-year UFC veteran showed he still had some fight left in him.
With the victory, a third fight between Lesnar and Mir would fall into place nicely. Mir tapped Lesnar out in the first round of Lesnar’s UFC debut at UFC 81 on Feb. 2, 2008. Lesnar would go on to win the UFC heavyweight title, the belt Mir once held, to set up a rematch with his rival.
The two exchanged some pretty heavy trash talk heading into the second fight, which headlined the UFC’s biggest card ever, UFC 100 on July 11, 2009. Lesnar retained his title in the return bout via TKO in the second round. It was a dominant performance and helped solidify Lesnar, who made his name in WWE originally, as a legitimate MMA standout.
Mir, 35, said he doesn’t think the win over Silva is necessarily a gateway to a third fight. But it certainly won’t hurt.
“I really have just kept it in the back of my mind, honestly,” Mir said. “It’s not something like, ‘I’m gonna win this to fight Brock.’ I was like, ‘Man, I need to win this to keep my job or my wife is not gonna let me go to the gym anymore.’ It’s not gonna pay the bills. I’m gonna have to go get a 9 to 5.”
Mir snapped a four-fight losing streak with the win. He lost to Alistair Overeem in February 2014 via unanimous decision and then took a year off to rest his body and work on improving his game. The training Mir did with grappling coach Ricky Lundell and boxing coach Angelo Reyes seemed to do wonders. And being injury-free for the first time in awhile didn’t hurt, either.
With those things coming together for him, Mir believes he would be a handful for anyone — including his old friend Lesnar. The pro-wrestling superstar will be headlining Wrestlemania 31 on March 29 and then reportedly his contract with WWE will be over. There have been rumors that Lesnar has some unfinished business in MMA after his career was affected by two bouts of diverticulitis and wants to return.
“If Brock Lesnar decides to come back, [I would] welcome him back,” Mir said. “I don’t think he likes getting punched very much; I’m looking like I’m actually figuring how to punch pretty hard. So whoever they give me. If I come in at 100 percent and I feel good like I did tonight, I wouldn’t bet on anybody across from me.”