At UFC 140, former heavyweight champion Frank Mir will square off against Antônio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira for the second time.
For Mir, who has worked his way back into title contention, Big Nog is another crucial step towards reclaiming the UFC Heavyweight Championship of the Word.
So what happens if Mir loses?
As far as title contention goes, losing to Minotauro Nogueira would deal the final deathblow to his hopes to get a title shot. If Mir ever wants to fight for the title again, he can’t lose this fight.
In the broader scheme of things, losing a fight to Big Nog isn’t all that bad. Nogueira is the consensus second-best heavyweight in mixed martial arts history. If you’ve got to lose a fight, losing to a living legend that you’ve already beaten once isn’t the end of the world.
So who would Mir fight next?
How about fighting Big Nog for a third time?
Nogueira needs more than two wins in a row to break back into the heavyweight title picture. His name isn’t Brock Lesnar after all. And Mir would also need to erase the loss to Big Nog if he wanted to get back on track.
It’s unlikely that Nogueira would get a title shot for beating Mir, so if he wins the fight at UFC 140 I think we could expect him to be available for a rubber match against Mir in the early part of next year.
Also, because Nogueira lost the first fight by knockout, he would have to beat Mir twice if he wanted to erase the memory of that devastating loss at UFC 92.
There are also plenty of other fights Mir could take after a loss at UFC 140. A matchup with Fabricio Werdum would be a great fight. And Mir would be the perfect opponent for the loser of Brock Lesnar vs Alistair Overeem.
For years I’ve wanted to see Mir fight Josh Barnett. It might not be possible if Dana White doesn’t let Barnett back into the UFC, but that would be an epic fight.
There’s another possibility too. After losing to Big Nog, Mir might actually want to start thinking about retirement.
Sounds crazy, right? Here’s why it might be most the sensible thing to do.
Ever since losing his title to a horrific motorcycle accident, Mir has staged failed comeback after failed comeback. Each time he has put together another run at regaining his heavyweight title, he’s been thwarted and frustrated.
Márcio Cruz knocked him out in the first round in his very first fight after the crash, and Brandon Vera knocked him out in the first round two fights later.
On the next run, he got all the way to a title shot but lost the fight against Lesnar via TKO and complete domination.
On his fourth run of trying to reclaim his long-lost 12 pounds of UFC gold, Mir’s dream of a rematch against Lesnar got mauled to death by Shane Carwin.
With a loss to Big Nog, Mir will have tallied a whopping five failed campaigns for reclaiming the title belt. At that point, he will need to ask himself, “Why am I still fighting in the UFC?”
If his only goal is to get his belt back, he might want to call it a career and take a job calling fights for the UFC or Strikeforce. Mir is one of the most gifted fight callers in all of MMA, and with more and more UFC events on the calendar, Joe Rogan and Mike Goldberg can’t make it to all of them.
If he’s willing to be the next Matt Hughes and just keep fighting for the love of fighting, then by all means, keep on truckin’ Frank.
But he’s got to face the increased unlikelihood that he will ever be champion again. There are just too many sharks in the heavyweight division today.
If Mir can’t beat Nogueira in the twilight of of his career, what are his chances against Junior dos Santos, Shane Carwin, Brock Lesnar, Alistair Overeem or Cain Velasquez?
Be sure to stay tuned to Bleacher Report for all things UFC 140. B/R is your home for complete coverage of the December 10 fight card, from pre-fight predictions to in-fight coverage, results and post-fight analysis.
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com