Frank Mir will always claim Las Vegas as his own but the former UFC heavyweight champion seems to have found a new home in the weeks leading up to his UFC on Fox 7 clash against Daniel Cormier.
Mir spoke to the Las Vegas Sun about his recent move to Jackson’s MMA in Albuquerque and the benefits it has provided.
“Having a bigger depth of talent to work with in the gym every day and bouncing ideas off of them was great,” Mir said. “Misery enjoys company, and having all these other world-class fighters in the gym made it all go a little faster.”
Don’t be surprised if you see a different Mir in the Octagon against Cormier. After all, one would expect Mir’s game to rise given the level of talent he’s training with now. The former UFC champ has said he’s sparred with Jon Jones, Andrei Arlovski and Travis Browne all on the same day.
It’s not just the great training partners Mir works with that help improve his game either.
“And having guys like Donald Cerrone sitting outside of the cage when I’m with those guys and giving me pointers and tips was a great help,” Mir said. “Everyone, in my eyes, was a great help.”
Mir will need all the help he can get as Cormier has looked great thus far into his MMA career. After competing with the United States’ Olympic wrestling team, Cormier has won all of his MMA bouts thus far and has finished five of them before the final bell.
His last performance against Josh Barnett was particularly telling as Cormier simply dominated the former UFC champion including a highlight reel worthy slam.
Regardless of the outcome in his fight, Mir believes he’ll travel to Jackson’s MMA again for his next contest.
“It will be a permanent move,” Mir said. “I think a lot of people would say, if I lose I wouldn’t consider the move to be justified, but I don’t agree — it was a great experience and I’ll be back to do it again.”
Read more MMA news on BleacherReport.com