Since winning the Interim UFC Heavyweight Championship against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2008 and subsequently losing a unification match against Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir has attempted to regain the title to no avail.
On Saturday, Mir will have yet another chance as he takes on Junior dos Santos in the main event of UFC 146 from the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nev. This will be the fifth title match of Mir’s career, and the first since he was knocked out by Shane Carwin in 2010.
Alistair Overeem was originally supposed to receive the title shot after defeating Lesnar and sending him back to the WWE, but Overeem failed his pre-fight drug test. Mir had been scheduled to face Cain Velasquez in the second-to-last match of the night, but he was given a golden opportunity instead.
It could be said that Mir has somewhat of an advantage since dos Santos had been training to fight the bigger, stronger Overeem, but Mir had to change his training regimen as well, so it shouldn’t make a big difference. Dos Santos is coming off a huge knockout win over Velasquez and has a ton of momentum entering Saturday’s bout.
Dos Santos has lost only once in 15 career fights and is currently on a nine-fight winning streak. He has won the majority of his matches with devastating knockouts and will likely look to do the same against Mir. There is no doubt that Mir is a tough customer who poses a threat to dos Santos, but as long as JDS can keep him at bay, he should be fine.
The 16-5 Mir may very well be the best heavyweight submission specialist in the sport as nine of his victories have resulted in his opponent tapping out. He has a vast array of submission maneuvers including the kimura, guillotine choke, triangle choke, arm bar and knee bar.
He has also won Submission of the Year twice, according to UFC.com, so he has a flair for the dramatic and spectacular finish. It is extremely difficult to get dos Santos into a compromising position, though, and Mir figures to find that out the hard way on Saturday.
All five of Mir’s losses have come by way of knockout and he has only gone the distance three times. That means Mir is likely to try to end this one early and that may lead to him opening himself up for yet another dos Santos knockout.
Mir will be a good challenge for dos Santos in his first title defense, but he will fall short yet again in his latest attempt to win back the Heavyweight Championship.
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