At UFC 130 Frank Mir came out and out-struck Roy Nelson and did a nice job of beating the man who is ranked just above him on many MMA heavyweight rankings.
Mir was able to land 63 of a total 82 strikes (77 percent accuracy) on Nelson, and on top of out-striking him, was able to take him down six of eight times.
So does this win catapult Mir to fight the upper echelon of the UFC’s heavyweight division?
With this win the next fight for Mir should be the loser of the Shane Carwin vs. Junior dos Santos fight at UFC 131, whomever that may be. That fight could help catapult Mir even further and earn himself a nice mention in the UFC heavyweight title picture.
Having Brock Lesnar out certainly helps Mir, and now Mir has become the fourth best heavyweight in the UFC with Lesnar out.
The fight makes sense, the loser of dos Santos vs. Carwin could use Mir as a bounce back fight and earn themselves a win over big name in the heavyweight division. It wouldn’t be an easy victory for either fighter too with Mir’s ability in the ground game.
Mir vs. Carwin II could be a great reason to have this. Carwin won by KO in round one the last time around. Now with Mir coming off of two straight wins over Nelson and Mirko Cro Cop, things could be different with a more confident Mir.
Mir’s striking also looked very good tonight, even if it was against a Roy Nelson who looked slower then usual. Mir landed some shots, and unfortunately, Nelson has a good chin that has withstood a lot in his last two fights.
So with UFC 131 in the near future, this win over Nelson could help Mir earn a fight with either Carwin or dos Santos and it is very logical.
Hey who knows, maybe it could be the co-main event of one of the cards in the fall.
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