Styles 0 Report post Posted August 14, 2005 From Sherdog: Out of action since suffering serious injuries during a September 2004 motorcycle accident, Las Vegan Frank Mir (Pictures) was stripped of his UFC heavyweight belt, according to a statement from UFC president Dana White, released late Friday on UFC.tv. Interim titleholder Andrei Arlovski (Pictures) was named the new UFC heavyweight champion. “Zuffa, LLC is pleased to announce Andrei Arlovski (Pictures) has been named the new UFC® heavyweight champion," began White's statement. "Andrei will fight Paul Buentello (Pictures) as the main event for the upcoming UFC 55: FURY event Friday, October 7, 2005 at the Mohegan Sun Arena. We congratulate Andrei and look forward to his first championship defense bout. We also extend our admiration and respect to our former heavyweight champion Frank Mir (Pictures) who is still rehabilitating himself from the injuries he sustained in a motorcycle accident in September 2004. We are hopeful that Frank will eventually recover from those injuries and look forward to the day he is medically cleared to return to the Octagon.” This news makes Mir the third UFC heavyweight champion to have lost the belt outside the Octagon during the Zuffa era. Josh Barnett (Pictures) was stripped by Zuffa after testing positive for steroids in 2002. And Tim Sylvia (Pictures), who also tested positive for steroids, relinquished his belt following his first defense against Gan McGee (Pictures) in November 2003. Contract disputes led to Randy Couture (Pictures) losing his UFC heavyweight belt during SEG's ownership of the UFC. Can't say I blame them. Dana wanted to make Mir/Arlovski for October and with Mir requesting even more time, it was getting ridiculous to have a lame duck champion in Arlovski. When Mir is ready to return I'm sure he'll get a shot at the belt. That or he'll be erased from history. UFC is funny like that... Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Your Paragon of Virtue 0 Report post Posted August 14, 2005 I think after such a serious injury, Mir didn't want to jump right in with a guy like Arlovski. They're probably gonna build him up by having him tear through some lower tier guys until he is ready for a shot at Arlovski, then they can build that up really well by talking about how he's the real champ and how he never should have been stripped of his title. It makes for a good storyline. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
Lord of The Curry 0 Report post Posted August 15, 2005 Peace out Buentello. Stick to knocking out Justin Eillers and you'll be aight. Not even in Pitbulls league. Share this post Link to post Share on other sites
