Although he earned a victory against Roy Nelson at UFC 130, Frank Mir didn’t appear to be himself in that fight as he often looked fatigued more than usual.
According to ESPN.com, Mir’s trainer, Jimmy Gifford revealed that he wasn’t at 100 percent during that bout due to a nagging knee injury. Gifford explained that the injury prevented him from making his weight target of 252 lbs.
“The ligaments in his knee were damaged,” Gifford said during the interview.
“Because of the knee issue, the weight didn’t come off like we thought it would. He won’t be that heavy for his next fight, I can promise you that.”
The former UFC heavyweight champion has been recently experimenting with his weight over the past year. After walking into his bout with Brock Lesnar at 245 lbs at UFC 100, Mir realized how much more he would need to adapt in order to compete with the bigger heavyweights of the division. In his bout with Shane Carwin at UFC 112, Mir weighed in at 265 lbs.
Gifford also revealed that while his performance against Nelson wasn’t the greatest, it was due in part to Mir not being healthy prior to the fight. Gifford said Mir had contracted bronchitis.
“His whole family was sick. The game plan in the fight was to go for it early, try and land some big shots and then pull off the gas pedal,” he said.
However, now that his win is in the record books, Gifford assured that Mir is completely healthy and future opponents are already being discussed for his next bout. While a return has not been set for Mir, Gifford said that Mir wants to compete before the end of the year.
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