Frank Mir accepts the fact that his fight against Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia was stopped when it was.
The former UFC Heavyweight Champion said the following on the Phone Booth Fighting podcast when talking about whether or not referee Marc Goddard made the right call to stop the fight when Mir was floored by the big shot from Hunt, which ended up being the heavyweight slugger’s latest “walk off knockout.”
“Yes, it was a good stoppage,” Mir said. “My lights were on, but I had no bearings on where anything was coming from. So the effectiveness of me being able to defend myself was very low at that point.”
Mir claimed the first person he saw after he was hit by the shot was referee Marc Goddard, admitting that he didn’t even know where Hunt was at first.
“It shows you show disorientated I was by the shot — the guy fully dressed was the one who caught my attention,” Mir said. … “It could have been bad [if the fight continued]. I see the reason for stopping it. At that point, intelligently defending myself, it would have been a scramble to find out where Mark was coming from.”
Mir, who has been hit by some of the biggest names in the history of the sport, claims Hunt’s shot was the hardest punch he’s ever been hit by in his career.
“By far the hardest punch I’ve ever received in my career,” Mir said. “Immediately, I felt like I was under water. The lights were on, but for a good 10 to 15 seconds the room spun.”