Revenge or repeat?
By Robert Przybylo
BPrzybylo@opubco.com
UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and interim heavyweight champion Frank Mir were supposed to fight back in May.
A Mir injury pushed it back to Saturday. For the best though as UFC 100 needed to have a heavyweight championship fight.
And for the UFC right now, this is the best matchup that can be made not involving a certain heavyweight named Fedor.
Lesnar’s 31 while Mir is 30. Both took on living legends in their last bout albeit much older legends. Lesnar stopped Randy Couture in the second round at UFC 91. Mir returned the favor to Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira at UFC 92 in December.
This fight alone would make me want the card, but when you fights like Dan Henderson vs. Michael Bisping and Georges St. Pierre vs. Thiago Alves, you know you’ve done something right.
The lasting impression for MMA fans though will be the Lesnar-Mir fight. It wasn’t all that long ago when Lesnar was in there with Mir, only to be submitted by a kneebar in the first round at UFC 81 in Feb. 2008.
Conventional (and Boneman) wisdom says Lesnar has learned a lot from that night. Most agree it was a fluke, but has Lesnar become smart enough to never put himself in that position again?
Mir made his UFC debut back in 2001. Remember that? And after a loss to Brandon Vera in 2006, has finally received that wakeup call. He can and should be one of the best heavyweights in the world.
In their first bout, Lesnar charged at Mir like a bull. If Lesnar does that again, think he’s going to get caught again. Patience will be the name of the game Saturday.
Lesnar has been working on submission game, but Mir still believes the only way Lesnar can win is by brute force. Hey may be right, but it may be all Lesnar does need.
It would be interesting if Mir tries to test Lesnar’s chin. With all the focus being about how Mir has tapped Lesnar before (so you know that’s what Lesnar has been prepping for), what if Mir tried to strike Lesnar first?
I see this going at least to the second, maybe the third round and Lesnar wearing out Mir to solidify himself as the heavyweight champion.
Either way, it should be a good one.
***
One word on the Cox Convention Center card heading to Oklahoma City on Sept. 16. That is a Wednesday, so don’t worry Oklahoma or Oklahoma State football fans. You’re not missing anything.
It’ll be Wednesday at 8 p.m., live on Spike. The buzz has already been strong here locally for this show. Very interested to see how fast the tickets go.
Back tomorrow with a closer look at the other two mega-bouts as well as more with Harrah product Matt Grice.
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