Frank Mir at UFC 140 – Photo by Nick Laham/Zuffa LLC/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Late Friday night, Ultimate Fighting Championship president Dana White made it official announcing a heavyweight title match between current champ Junior ‘Cigano’ dos Santos (14-1) and former champion Frank Mir (16-5).
White made the announcement via Twitter (@danawhite).
– Taking off to Atlanta!!!! May 26 th is now Mir vs JDS for the HW title in Las Vegas at the MGM Grand.
Dos Santos had been scheduled to face former Strikeforce champ Alistair Overeem next month at UFC 146, but with a lot of uncertainty riding on Overeem’s availability it seems White didn’t want to wait. Overeem has a hearing with the Nevada State Athletic Commission this week to discuss his a failed pre-fight drug test due to a 14:1 ratio of testosterone to epitestosterone levels, much higher than the 6:1 the NSAC allows.
Mir was also set to appear on the same card against the last champion Cain Velasquez. Reports are that Velasquez will meet another, yet-to-be announced opponent at the UFC 146 event.
UFC 146: Dos Santos vs. Mir will take place on May 26, 2012 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada and features an all heavyweight main card.
Dos Santos is back in fighting shape after recovering from knee surgery. The champ injured himself while training to face Velasquez last November at the UFC on FOX 1 show. ‘Cigano’ would need 64-seconds to win the UFC title to extrend his win streak to nine straight bouts. Previous to the title win, he earned a unanimous decision against Shane Carwin at UFC 131 in a No. 1 contender bout.
Mir has won three straight since an interim UFC title loss to Shane Carwin in March 2010 at UFC 111. Since that time Mir has gone on to defeat Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic, Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson, and a memorable win in a rematch against Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140 last December.