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UFC 146: Junior Dos Santos vs. Frank Mir Head-to-Toe Breakdown

At UFC 146, the heavyweight title will be on the line in the main event of the evening, as the current champion, Junior “Cigano” dos Santos, will face off against the former champion, Frank Mir.Dos Santos is known as one of the most dangerous strikers …

At UFC 146, the heavyweight title will be on the line in the main event of the evening, as the current champion, Junior “Cigano” dos Santos, will face off against the former champion, Frank Mir.

Dos Santos is known as one of the most dangerous strikers in the heavyweight division, and Mir is known as one of the best submission artists in the division.

This will be one of the more interesting fights for dos Santos, as he has never fought someone with the submission capabilities of Frank Mir.

Let’s take a look at who has the edge in this head-to-toe breakdown of the heavyweight title fight.

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Frank Mir: Alexander Gustafsson Tops List of Guys Who Can Beat Jon Jones

If forced to choose a fighter at 205 pounds with the best chance to defeat Jon Jones, Frank Mir would put his money on Alexander Gustafsson.MMA:30’s Dave Farra recently spoke with the former UFC heavyweight champion about the UFC 145 main event, Dan He…

If forced to choose a fighter at 205 pounds with the best chance to defeat Jon Jones, Frank Mir would put his money on Alexander Gustafsson.

MMA:30’s Dave Farra recently spoke with the former UFC heavyweight champion about the UFC 145 main event, Dan Henderson’s chances against Jones and Gustafsson as a potential future contender.

When asked about Jones’ win over Evans, Mir said, “There were a few moments there when it looked like Rashad [Evans] might’ve done something, but for the most part, I think Jones pretty much shut him down and controlled the fight.”

“If you want to nullify a guy’s reach,” he said, “you gotta move in on him, close the gap and stay close, backing up and fighting at Jones’ distance, I don’t think anybody in the world can fight Jones at a far distance and come away effective. He just has too many weapons from the outside.”

Evans learned about those weapons the hard way, as he was completely picked apart for all 25 minutes of the championship bout.

The light heavyweight division was once considered the deepest in the sport, but Jones’ dominance is causing the once-stacked division to crumble.

It’s becoming harder and harder to find fresh contenders for the young phenom, despite him having only defended his belt three times.

At 41 years of age, MMA legend Dan Henderson will be the next light heavyweight to step up against Jones.

There is some hope in Henderson’s thunderous right hand and world-class wrestling. But overall, it seems like a long shot for the former Pride middleweight champion to get his hand raised.

“I think Henderson obviously has the grappling credentials to where he can close the distance,” Mir said. “I just wonder how he’s going to. I don’t think has ever been an explosively quick fighter.”

“He’s just very powerful,” Mir said. “If he hits you, he can take you out, but to be able to land that punch on someone with that much reach, and the youth and speed is on Jones’ side too. I think one of the quickest guys at 205 was Rashad, when he’s fresh, an explosively quick guy, and he had a hard time getting in on [Jones].”

Mauricio Rua, Quinton Jackson, Lyoto Machida and now Rashad Evans are all down for the count. If Henderson can’t beat Jones, who else is there?

“As far as names of whoever could possibly compete with Jones, I would put [Gustafsson] at the top of the list,” Mir said. “The guy is incredibly long and tall himself and just really strong.

“I didn’t get to grapple with him personally, but I’ve seen him get grabbed by a few guys that I’ve rolled with that I know have some pretty good strength and power and technique and Gustafsson, without even grimacing at his face, was pretty effortlessly able to throw them around. I was really impressed.”

Looking for some more MMA news, and perhaps a couple of laughs? Follow me on Twitter @JordyMcElroy.

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Frank Mir Thinks Alistair Overeem Had a Viable Excuse

For all of the idiocy on display at yesterday’s Alistair Overeem hearing in Las Vegas—and there was plenty, to be sure—the biggest winner, in the end, was Frank Mir.After all, Mir’s the one who coasted into a title fight without having to b…

For all of the idiocy on display at yesterday’s Alistair Overeem hearing in Las Vegas—and there was plenty, to be sure—the biggest winner, in the end, was Frank Mir.

After all, Mir’s the one who coasted into a title fight without having to beat former champion Cain Velasquez. That would’ve been a tough fight for the Las Vegas resident, but now he’s able to bypass it entirely and go after yet another heavyweight title. And all because Overeem couldn’t pass a drug test when he knew roughly two months in advance that one would be headed his way the first time he made a public appearance in Las Vegas.

But perhaps I’ve been too hard on Overeem. Mir, appearing on the UFC’s weekly flagship news show UFC Tonight, said “The Reem” presented a reasonable explanation during Tuesday’s hearing:

I think this is the first time that he’s ever come up positive at tests, as far as I’m aware of. It seems like he had a viable explanation for what happened.

Everybody makes mistakes. We all do things that we’re not proud of. We’ve all made mistakes professionally or in our personal life that are not our greatest moments in life.

To sit there and ostracize somebody and never allow them to redeem themselves, I think would be very against humanity and our overall impression that I try to carry as a person.

I agree with Mir that Overeem will deserve a second chance. Despite the cloud of suspicion that has hovered over Alistair for the last few years, this is indeed the first time he’s actually failed a drug test. Once he’s served his suspension, he’ll be welcomed back in the UFC, and rightly so. Everyone deserves a chance to make something better of themselves.

I don’t agree with Mir’s assessment that Overeem had a reasonable explanation, however. Even if we believe Overeem is telling the truth about being unknowingly injected with testosterone, and even if we believe his shady “doctor” during testimony, there’s still one little matter being overlooked: Fighters are in complete control of what goes into their bodies. And by that I mean it’s their responsibility to know exactly what they’re taking.

The “I didn’t know what I was taking” defense has gained a lot of steam over the past two years, and I can’t understand why. It has never worked as a real defense, and never served as a way to get out of a suspension or clear your name.

It’s simply an excuse, a way to put the blame on someone else, and it’s ridiculous.

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UFC 146: Breakdown of Every Main Card Heavyweight Fight

UFC 146 is to be held on May 26th featuring a full heavyweight main card which was supposed to be capped off with a fight between Alistair Overeem versus Junior dos Santos. That all changed when Overeem was replaced by UFC management after his tes…

Since it was announced that Overeem was out of the main event and the card as a whole, the UFC has changed four of the five originally scheduled main-card contests.

With the new shake-up, the UFC is putting on a better card than what was originally scheduled. Let’s take a closer look at the updated UFC 146 main fight card.

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Hall of Weird: The Oddest, Iconic Moments/Signatures in MMA

In MMA, like any sport, the participants want to become iconic for what they do within the confines of their sport if not iconic outside of it as well. Yet for the majority of fighters, they may never become truly iconic, but they may have signature moments that define certain parts of their careers. These signatures can be good or bad depending on who’s looking, but they are there nonetheless. This list is of the signatures of a wide range of fighters, from future hall-of-famers to tomato cans.

The way that I chose the signatures listed is if you showed someone who had never seen much of MMA videos covering the entire careers of the listed fighters, what would they most remember? Those moments are what make up this list.

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Frank Mir Believes He Poses a Big Threat to Junior Dos Santos

Frank Mir has been with the UFC for over 10 years. That’s an amazing statistic, especially when you consider that Mir is a heavyweight. As a general rule, heavyweights don’t really have that kind of staying power.Very few heavyweights have put together…

Very few heavyweights have put together the kind of career Mir has over the past decade. He’s a multiple-time champion. He’s the only man to submit and knock out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. And despite those dark times when it seemed like Mir was nearing irrelevancy, he once again finds himself in the title picture as he replaces Alistair Overeem against Junior dos Santos next month at UFC 146.

Mir was the only logical choice to replace Overeem. Sources close to the UFC told me two weeks ago that should Overeem be pulled from his title fight, Mir would be the guy to replace him. Cain Velasquez couldn’t be put back in a title fight due to the way he lost his last bout to Dos Santos. Antonio Silva lost his last bout to Daniel Cormier. Fabricio Werdum couldn’t be ready in time, and he’s needed for the UFC’s Brazil card in June. And, despite a fan campaign that was borderline ludicrous, Mark Hunt was never an option.

Mir appeared on The MMA Hour with Ariel Helwani today, where he said he assumed that he would be the guy to replace Overeem:

“I just kind of did the math in my own mind,” Mir explained on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour. “My team around me, we all pretty much felt that if dos Santos were to stay on the card, and Overeem was not able to challenge for the title, then I was the most logical person to step in. So as we were still training for Cain (Velasquez), there was that at the back of my mind, okay, be prepared for this to happen also.”

As a replacement opponent, Mir makes sense. He has the biggest name out of the potential replacements, and he’s riding a three-fight winning streak. There’s also the storyline of dos Santos going for revenge against the guy who twice beat his mentor in Nogueira.

Mir understands fan disappointment in not being able to see Overeem gunning for the title, but he believes he still makes for a compelling opponent for the heavyweight champion:

“I still pose a very large threat to dos Santos,” Mir vowed. “I still think it’ll be an interesting cat-and-mouse game between me and Junior, because what I want to be able to impose on him, he’s going to try to avoid, and vice versa.”

Mir has a better chance of winning the heavyweight title than most people are giving him. He obviously has the kind of submission game that makes him a threat on the ground, and Dos Santos will want to avoid the takedown at all costs. If the fight stays standing, Dos Santos should have a boxing advantage, but we have seen Mir drastically improve his kickboxing game over the past two years.

Yeah, we all wanted to see Overeem. But this was the right choice when you consider the controversy surrounding Overeem at the moment.

Dos Santos vs. Mir will still be a compelling fight.

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