Just when you thought the soap opera surrounding Frank Mir’s recent comments, stating his ‘desire’ to end Brock Lesnar’s life in the Octagon had come to an end (after all, this is what apologies usually are designed to do), the outspoken former champ is apparently ready to star in another episode. Speaking to SI’s Ben Fowlkes, it sounds like Mir isn’t exactly sure why his comments were singled out and condemned, when other notable fighters like BJ Penn, Chuck Liddell, amongst others, have also used terms like ‘kill,’’ when discussing the game plan for their next opponent.
“No one’s been able to explain it to me yet,” Mir says. “I thought we understood that what we say on camera is part of the entertainment aspect of our sport and we kind of get a little artistic license. It’s not like I said this to my neighbor, that if his dog shows up in my yard one more time I’m going to kill him. That would be bad. That’s a problem. I didn’t understand it, but hey, it came my way, I said it, and I can’t cry about it now. I’ve just got to deal with it, I guess.”
Yes, Mir has a point in regards to the fact that fighters deserve a little ‘artistic license,’ when discussing a sport that can entail sending your fellow human being to the hospital for reconstructive surgery. In this case, it was probably Mir’s use of the words “first person that dies due to Octagon related injuries” that blurred the lines for some folk. Particularly those who people who still think MMA is ‘barbaric.’ Stay tuned…