You have to give Frank Mir some props. It seems that even after three straight losses, the former UFC heavyweight has no shortage of confidence.
Speaking to Brett Okamoto of ESPN, Mir let it be known that he has no plans of hanging the gloves up if he loses to Alistair Overeem at UFC 169.
I kind of know no matter what it’s not going to be my last fight. I’m still younger than a lot of the guys in the division.
There are two ways I would consider retirement. One is losing to guys who are not top-level competition. The other is if I started losing where it’s like, ‘OK man, you were knocked out viciously and staring at the rafters.’ I won’t endanger my health.
Fans might scoff at that last comment considering Mir has lost by KO or TKO in seven of his eight career losses, including two of his last three.
Still, Mir is undeterred by the recent results.
I’m sorry if those three losses aren’t killing my ego. Let’s see, the losing streak started with Junior dos Santos, the No. 1 heavyweight in the world at the time. Then I lost to Cormier in a pretty boring fight and then to Barnett, which to me was a no-contest because the fight had a very controversial stoppage.
Look at who I’ve fought. I should retire? Wow. We’d only have five guys in every weight class because everybody else would need to retire
Mir has a point here. It’s not as if he’s been losing to a bunch of scrubs and he’s still facing top level competition.
He’s also been getting blasted by top level competition as well. Not only has Mir lost by KO/TKO, but he’s been brutally knocked out by Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, rocked multiple times by JDS and went limp (controversy aside) against Barnett. Mir was also on jello legs against an aging Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in their second meeting and would’ve likely lost by TKO had Nogueira not gone for the submission finish.
If Mir loses to Overeem at UFC 169, it would be four straight losses and it’d be hard for the UFC to justify keeping him on their roster. Even if he wins, he’ll likely remain in the gatekeeper range as his title hopes look to be all but gone at this point in his career.
Mir has been anxious to show the improvements in his game since joining Greg Jackson’s camp but it may be a case of too little, too late.
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