After snapping a four-fight losing skid against Antonio Silva in February — and doing it in resounding fashion — former heavyweight champion Frank Mir has his sights set on his next victim. And it’s not Brock Lesnar, as he’d originally hoped.
It’s Todd Duffee.
According to a report on UFC Tonight, after much campaigning a heavyweight bout between the two-time champion Mir and the 29-year old colossus Duffee is in the works. Though no exact date has been set on the fight, it is being considered for sometime this summer.
Mir’s manager Malki Kawa told Ariel Helwani that he recognizes this isn’t an ideal opponent, but that Mir really wants to stay active, and uphold a broader goal of competing at least three times in 2015.
Heading into his UFC Fight Night 61 bout with “Bigfoot” Silva and having lost four straight fights, Mir (17-9) was faced with a do-or-die situation. Not only did he score a much-needed victory, but he knocked Silva out violently in the first round. The 35-year old Mir hadn’t won a fight in the Octagon since UFC 140 back in 2011.
Duffee (9-2), meanwhile, has reemerged as a conversational piece in the heavyweight division in his second stint with the UFC. After defeating Phil De Fries at UFC 155 via first-round TKO, he followed that up with a huge knockout of Anthony Hamilton at UFC 181 this past December.
Overall Duffee has won three fights in a row. He also remains a shareholder for the fastest knockout in UFC history, which he scored against Tim Hague at UFC 102 in 2009 (seven seconds). Of Duffee’s nine professional victories, eight have come via first-round KO or TKO. The other was a second round TKO against Assuerio Silva in 2008.