Tag: Frank Mir

UFC 146 Results: Is Frank Mir Still a Threat in the Heavyweight Division?

In short, the answer to the question is yes. But an apter question is, to what degree is the former champion a threat?The UFC Heavyweight Championship bout on Saturday night was not competitive. All credit goes to the outstanding skills of the champion…

In short, the answer to the question is yes. But an apter question is, to what degree is the former champion a threat?

The UFC Heavyweight Championship bout on Saturday night was not competitive. All credit goes to the outstanding skills of the champion, Junior dos Santos. But the question has to be posed about the longtime contender.

In the past three years, Frank Mir is 4-3. All losses in a championship bout. All losses to heavy-hitters.

The victories also must be looked at. Roy Nelson is a solid feather in his cap. Mir put together a solid performance that led him to a decision victory. Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, while a legend, is not a top contender anymore. Neither is Cro Cop. Was Chieck Kongo ever truly a threat to the division’s crown? No.

That is not to take away from those performances, but they must be laid out for perspective.

Mir’s ground game is devastating. He has shown this. However, he does not have the dynamic wrestling to consistently put himself in top position or the strength of powerful wrestlers to make the bottom a dangerous choice. Fighters with moderate takedown defense have been able to stuff his shots.

The elite heavyweights have passed Mir by. Powerful strikers with good takedown defense or champion wrestlers with incredible positioning and control. Mir has a specific path to victory against the elite of the division and it requires the fight to be fought in one area, and that is not a formula for success at the championship level.

Regardless, Mir remains a threat to anyone who wants to play with fire.

His biggest asset is his brain. The former champion is a fantastic analyst who can break down his opponent’s game to find holes and he is also great at mental warfare.

UFC Hall of Famer Randy Couture has already shown that even though one’s skills dip later in his career, the mind remains the biggest asset to a fighter.

Despite his struggles against championship fighters, Mir proves time and time again that he remains at the top of the division. His jiu-jitsu game makes him a constant threat in any fight.

The majority of the heavyweight division still lacks an all-around game that Mir can exploit to put himself back in title contention. If the opposition wants to take the fight to the floor, you can expect Mir to keep himself relevant in the heavyweight division.

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UFC 146 Results: Is Junior dos Santos Unbeatable?

Junior dos Santos retained his UFC heavyweight title in impressive fashion Saturday night in Las Vegas in the main event of the UFC 146 pay-per-view. Dos Santos stuffed an early takedown attempt from challenger Frank Mir and would go on to batter the f…

Junior dos Santos retained his UFC heavyweight title in impressive fashion Saturday night in Las Vegas in the main event of the UFC 146 pay-per-view. Dos Santos stuffed an early takedown attempt from challenger Frank Mir and would go on to batter the former champion for the better part of two rounds.

With the win, Dos Santos effectively cemented his place among the top of the heavyweight rankings and validated his championship by defending the belt.

JDS has not only racked up a handful of wins inside the Octagon, but he’s also dominated virtually everyone he’s fought. The champion has defeated jiu-jitsu specialists, strong wrestlers and kickboxers, as well.

It seems he’s impervious to any style an opponent might throw at him and has looked about as close to unbeatable as one could imagine en route to becoming top dog.

But is the champion unbeatable?

Dos Santos has shown great takedown defense as powerful wrestler Shane Carwin was unable to wrestle him to the mat, Roy Nelson failed to capitalize with his jiu-jitsu skills and both Cain Velasquez and Mir were unable in their attempts, as well.

Mir, in particular, had a deep single leg and tried about every variation of a takedown from that position that he could think of. Yet JDS fended him off with his back to the cage and walked away, leaving Mir questioning his confidence.

If you were to tell another fan that JDS is unbeatable, you wouldn’t exactly be stretching the truth too much. Although he only brings one skill set to the Octagon, it’s an elite-level skill that few men would be able to handle.

Two possible opponents to dethrone the champion would be the man he defeated to win the belt, Velasquez, and JDS’ original opponent for UFC 146, Alistair Overeem.

Velasquez came in a little rusty and clearly tentative in his bout with Dos Santos and it cost him the title. But just watch the bloodbath that was Velasquez vs. Antonio Silva last night and you’d have to bet a rematch could possibly go a different direction.

The former champ wanted to make a statement in his bout with Silva and it’s clear that Velasquez is one scary guy at heavyweight. A rematch is likely in the cards for Velasquez and if he comes out with that same kind of intensity we could see a very different outcome.

Another fighter who could end JDS’ reign of terror over the division is Overeem. The former Strikeforce champion can lay the claim of having world-class striking as he’s a K-1 champion and could give Dos Santos a run for his money on the feet.

While most fighters are forced to play Dos Santos’ game because they are ineffective with their grappling, Overeem would be able to compete on equal terms in the stand-up game. Overeem also has a slick submission game that could give Dos Santos’ some problems should he find himself in the wrong position.

The main problem with a potential showdown with Overeem is that he will be out until December and may not last in the UFC given how Dana White has responded to Overeem “lying” to him.

Many fans will begin to make claims of JDS’ invincibility but as well all know any fighter can lose. Dos Santos has holes and weaknesses in his game just as everyone does, but we haven’t seen anyone be able to capitalize on them.

The Velasquez that showed up at UFC 146 certainly has the talent to do so and, lucky for us, that will likely be the next heavyweight title matchup.

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Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir: Cigano Proves Mir Can’t Compete for a Title

Junior dos Santos made relatively quick work of Frank Mir in UFC 146 to retain the UFC heavyweight championship and sealed the deal that Mir will never compete for a title again. In the second round of their fight, dos Santos landed a straight right ha…

Junior dos Santos made relatively quick work of Frank Mir in UFC 146 to retain the UFC heavyweight championship and sealed the deal that Mir will never compete for a title again.

In the second round of their fight, dos Santos landed a straight right hand that leveled Mir and sent him rolling backwards. Mir attempted to get up, but fell back having clearly been rocked too hard to come back from.

Cigano dominated most of the fight and never gave Mir a chance to fight in his comfort zone. Instead, dos Santos kept it a boxing match and was simply too much for Mir as evidenced by the second-round finish.

Mir made a few attempts to take this fight to the ground, but all efforts were thwarted by the champ.

The former heavyweight champ has had some great matches throughout his career and many accomplishments to be proud of.

That being said, it doesn’t appear that there is much left in the tank for Mir.

Cigano is the class of the division and if Mir wants to return to glory, he’ll have to get through that caliber of fighter. However, Mir never stood a chance against dos Santos, further proving he is no longer on an elite level.

So, what’s next for Mir?

It’s doubtful he’ll be dropped off the face of the UFC earth. Mir still has value to the company as a legend, fan favorite and a top-notch measuring stick for new fighters coming into the company.

Although this will be the last you see of Mir in a truly meaningful fight, it won’t be the last you see of Mir for good.

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Brock Lesnar is Coming Back to the UFC? Well, . . . . Maybe . . . . . .

Nathan “The12ozCurls” Smith

As painful as the UFC post-fight press conferences are to sit though, you sure do learn (or at least get teased with) some vital information about the future of the organization. Stuff like: Dana White saying that he doesn’t want to deal with Alistair Overeem because “he sat in front of us . . . . Lied to us.” There is an entire horse meat story waiting to be written by Josh Hutchinson on that, but I am talking about good juicy TMZ’esque gossip shit. The Overeem issue is kind of news but it was overshadowed by another series of questions asked.

Because there was not a camera pointed at the media members, I am not certain it was Ariel Helwani – but I am pretty damn positive – who asked the most intriguing questions of the night. I AM sure that there are not a lot of guys that (sound like a baritone-polite-Mogwai and) have the stones to ask the necessary questions – but big props to Helwani if it was in fact him.


(Who has 2 index fingers and knows how to make a lot of money?)

Nathan “The12ozCurls” Smith

As painful as the UFC post-fight press conferences are to sit though, you sure do learn (or at least get teased with) some vital information about the future of the organization.  Stuff like: Dana White saying that he doesn’t want to deal with Alistair Overeem because “he sat in front of us . . . . Lied to us.”  There is an entire horse meat story waiting to be written by Josh Hutchinson on that, but I am talking about good juicy TMZ’esque gossip shit. The Overeem issue is kind of news but it was overshadowed by another series of questions asked.

Because there was not a camera pointed at the media members, I am not certain it was Ariel Helwani – but I am pretty damn positive – who asked the most intriguing questions of the night.  I AM sure that there are not a lot of guys that (sound like a baritone-polite-Mogwai and) have the stones to ask the necessary questions – but big props to Helwani if it was in fact him.

If you wanna see Dana White show a giant shit-eating-grin (even bigger than karmaatemycat’s during the Barbosa vs. Varner fight), follow along HERE at the 13:25 mark.

Possibly Probably  Helwani – “A lot of people were very surprised to see Brock Lesnar – he wasn’t a guy that would come to fights when he was a member of the UFC . . . . .”  (interrupted by)
Dana White  – “You got that right . . . . right?”
PPH – “What was he doing here?”
DW – “I don’t know.  Apparently now he is a big fan”
Helwani – “Is there anything more to that?”
DW – “Ya.”
PPH – “Anything that you’d like to share?”
DW – “No.  He was here.  I mean, I think that says it all.”
PPH – “Is there a chance that he may come back?”
DW – “Possibly, ya.”
PPH – “So you have talked to him about this?”
DW – “No.”

Well, thanks for fucking nothing . . . . kind of.

The fact that both HeavyWeight Champion Junior Dos Santos and defeated foe Frank Mir are in the screen shot during the encounter is absolutely priceless.  Cigano laughs during the questioning while Mir and his swollen face stare into outer space.  Brock was probably there in hopes that Mir would somehow defeat JDS and then he could come back to the UFC for a third match against Frank.  Clearly that shit didn’t materialize.  Now, since the questions have been asked, does anybody really think that Brock wants to come back to face the killers in the HW division, much less JDS?  We already know that ”COCK CHESTNAR” (thanks dranokills)  doesn’t like getting hit in the face or kicked in the body.  Is there anyone out there that thinks this just reeks of “sports entertainment” nonsense?  It has happened before.

Open the proverbial flood gates of endless speculation.

UFC 146 Results: Junior Dos Santos is the New Chuck Liddell

UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos proved once again that he has what former light heavyweight king Chuck Liddell also possessed: knockout power and sterling takedown defense. Frank Mir was frustrated with his attempts to wrestle down the defen…

UFC heavyweight champion Junior dos Santos proved once again that he has what former light heavyweight king Chuck Liddell also possessed: knockout power and sterling takedown defense.

Frank Mir was frustrated with his attempts to wrestle down the defending champion earlier tonight, and proceeded to eat more punches until the last which bombed on him right before the referee stoppage in the second round.

The result was not entirely surprising; the vast majority of MMA fans and pundits were expecting nothing less than what Dos Santos eventually delivered.

Twice Mir tried to go for a single-leg takedown, and twice he ended up grasping nothing but air.

Soon it was just a matter of time before Dos Santos tagged Mir with a hard right that sent him crashing on the canvas. A little sooner, a visibly lost Mir, who was laying supine upside-down in relation to his opponent, got knocked by a downward fist from the standing titlist.

Just earlier during the break, Mir was asked by the doctor if he knew where he was. He answered on the spot that he’s in Las Vegas at UFC 146. Three minutes later he could’ve been in Timbuktu for all he cared.

Dos Santos’ mode of destroying his challengers is reminiscent of Liddell before and during his reign as the light heavyweight champion. The UFC Hall of Fame fighter threatened opponents by keeping fights standing, where he was at his best in inflicting punishment with hands and feet.

Likewise, the current heavyweight ruler presents the same fearsome prospect. Most especially to those who itch to drag him to the ground, rather than facing his onslaught standing up.

A fighter with superior striking may someday knock out the champ in the standup, giving him a dose of his own bad medicine.  Perhaps someone will take his belt and other fighters will deny him from regaining it until he retires (the same fate that eventually befell former champion Liddell).

Maybe Cain Velasquez will ascend the throne once again by taking Dos Santos down in their rematch. Then, on the ground, cut and drench the champion with his own blood like what he did to Antonio Silva.

But until then, Dos Santos will keep making good of his threat that if you can’t take him down, he’ll mow you down—and out.

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UFC 146 Results: 10 Memorable Moments from Dos Santos vs. Mir in Las Vegas

The all-heavyweight main card of UFC 146 caused some controversy when it was first announced. Some believed that the sometimes laboring pace of the 205+ pounders could get boring. Were those doubters ever wrong. The heavyweights delivered on this ni…

The all-heavyweight main card of UFC 146 caused some controversy when it was first announced. Some believed that the sometimes laboring pace of the 205+ pounders could get boring.

Were those doubters ever wrong.

The heavyweights delivered on this night, delivering five finishes in five main card fights, including four knockouts and a submission. All five fights combined lasted under 23 minutes!

There were quite a few memories made during the main card as well as during the undercard. Let’s take a look back at them. Here are the top 10 most memorable moments of UFC 146.

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