It wasn’t a long time ago that Frank Mir was one of the best heavyweights in the world. He’d overcome championing a thin division on his own youthful hubris, a serious motorcycle accident that almost crippled him and some losses to guys that didn’t even deserve to fight him.
He’d just knocked out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira—the first man to ever do so—and was ready to show the world that his win over Brock Lesnar wasn’t a fluke, that he truly had the former WWE star’s number.
What happened from there was a veritable roller coaster that has seen Mir toil in mediocrity and struggle to find traction in the heavyweight division.
He was smashed by Lesnar in their rematch. He did some smashing of his own against Cheick Kongo. He was on the wrong side of a smashing again against Shane Carwin. He put together uninspiring wins over Mirko Filiopovic and Roy Nelson.
And now he’s back at Nogueira’s door, looking to show once again that a past win wasn’t a fluke. He’s hoping it goes better than the Lesnar rematch did.
It’s been a long road for one of the truest UFC veterans out there. Mir has contested 18 of his 20 career fights in the famed Octagon, and has held heavyweight gold on a couple of occasions. However, as the sport has evolved Mir has slipped, often struggling with the raw power of bigger, stronger men in a division that has quickly grown full of them.
He’s made attempts to combat those issues, toying with putting on more muscle or dropping weight to become smaller and faster. He’s worked on his wrestling, developed better standup. He’s done the things a man can do to contend, and some things that not every man will try. He just hasn’t gotten consistent results.
It comes down to Mir knowing what he is, accepting it and working with it. He’s not a man who should cut weight to make 265 lbs. He’s not a collegiate wrestler. He’s not a K-1 kickboxer.
He’s a jiu-jitsu guy, and a great one at that. He’s a decent boxer who has made tremendous strides in his striking overall. He’s at his best when he weighs in around 245 lbs. He’s a guy who has one great tool and some other decent ones. That’s Frank Mir.
And even with all that said, he’s still not that far out of contention. A win at UFC 140 puts him on a three-fight win streak over three name guys, and has him back in talks as a top-5 guy in the promotion.
Frank Mir’s biggest enemy is often Frank Mir. He needs to stop overthinking and just go fight. When he does that, as he did against Nogueira the first time, the sky is the limit.
That’s the only way that he can become a contender again.
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