UFC 81: Breaking Point

[Hunter's Torn Quad 0]

Frank Mir.

 

Contracts agreed to, Lesnar's opponent in his UFC debut on 2/2 is

 

Frank Mir

 

Meltzer.

 

Super Bowl Showdown set between Lesnar and Mir

By Thomas Gerbasi

 

 

In a classic case of putting your money where your mouth is, new UFC signee Brock Lesnar – who has made no bones about wanting to fight the best the heavyweight division has to offer – will make his Octagon debut at UFC 81 on February 2nd against none other than former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir.

 

The bout will be held at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, Nevada on the eve of Super Bowl XLII.

 

“It’s an interesting matchup,” said UFC President Dana White. “Lesnar is a great wrestler, a good athlete, and this is definitely gonna be a big test for him. Frank Mir is a former world champion who is coming off a big win over Antoni Hardonk, and he’s looking to get his career back on track while Lesnar’s looking to walk into the UFC and prove what type of fighter he’s gonna be by trying to knock him off.”

 

The 6-3 ½, 265 Lesnar (1-0) comes to the UFC with stellar college wrestling credentials that saw him earn All American status four times, win Big Ten Championships twice, and also win the 2000 NCAA National Championship. After leaving the University of Minnesota, the South Dakota-born Lesnar gained fame as a professional wrestler and also had a stint with the NFL’s Minnesota Vikings. In 2007, he made his mixed martial arts debut and annihilated Min Soo Kim in just 69 seconds on June 2nd.

 

“This guy’s not trying to duck anybody,” said White of Lesnar. “He knew once he got in the UFC that he was gonna fight tough guys.”

 

28 year old Las Vegan Frank Mir (10-3) was destined for stardom from the moment he stepped in the UFC Octagon, and he lived up to all expectations when he submitted Tim Sylvia in 50 seconds in 2004 to win the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Unfortunately, Mir’s career ground to a halt when a serious motorcycle accident later that year forced him to the sidelines for almost two years. His eagnerness to return forced him into some spotty performances when he did return in 2006, but at UFC 74 in August, Mir was back in top notch form as he submitted Antoni Hardonk in just 77 seconds.

[Mik 0]

Big match.

 

Can't fucking wait.

 

Frank's looked a lot better in his last few fights.

[Mik 0]

Also,

 

This has the makings of the biggest UFC card of all-time. They are pumping a ton of money in to this due to it being Super Bowl weekend and they want wrestling fans tuning in as well.

 

This will be co-main.

 

What's the main? Heavyweight is probably not happening. WW is in December. Anderson doesn't have a good enough opponent. LW is irrelevant in terms of marketing as a main.

 

It needs to be Rampage vs. Forrest. Needs to be.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I'm glad his big hyped up debut isn't going to be against someone he can just run over, Frank Mir could win this fight easily.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I don't think this is going to be an easy win for either man. Although Mir winning is more likely.

 

Brock's an X factor right now. No one knows what he'll be like, other then he'll likely immediately shoot in. Mir has decent to good standup, and good submissions. On the ground, he might be able to get a submission but it'll be difficult if only for Brock's size and power. That's ignoring the fact that I'd assume he's been training submissions.

 

I really wouldn't be surprised to see Brock immediately shoot in, take Mir down and then either slowly grind out a three round decision, or win a stoppage from ground and pound. I highly doubt this stays standing longer then a minute or two either way it goes.

[Nate 0]

to be honest I wanna see Mir win this fight, and convincingly just to see how pissed Dana would get

[Guest Warriorfan]

Dana White officially removed any chance for Brock to become a phenomenon by announcing his opponent for February 2 as Frank Mir. White is one arrogant idiot. He had a perfect opportunity to build a monster in Lesnar by feeding him squashes until about 4 fights in where any of the top tier Heavyweights could've been used for a blockbuster PPV. Imagine Randy showing up and calling Lesnar a fraud to his face and challenging him to a fight after Brock left bodies laying.

 

Mir is fully recovered from his injuries and is primed and ready for a comeback. I have faith in Brock but this isn't the matchmaking that will assure a superstar showdown in the heavyweight division.

 

After the fiasco surrounding his handling of the PRIDE fighters I would think he would take a different approach with Lesnar. If he paid Brock above mid 6 figures to have him debut against Mir then he is really disturbed.

 

[tbondrage99 0]

Brock has only had one fight before this one right?

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

I really don't think losing to Brandon Vera by KO, and then beating Antoni Hardonk by submission is showing he's "back on the rise". I mean, seriously. Hardonk is 5-4, and lost two out of his three fights in the UFC. He's also a striker who hasn't really shown high level ground work in the UFC. Before that Mir lost to Cruz and took Dan Christison to a decision. 2-2 and neither of his wins have been that impressive.

 

I think if Brock comes in like he did on the K-1 Dynamite show, Mir should beat him...but that will have been over six months ago by the time of this fight. We really do not know what Brock will be like. What we do know from his short debut, was he has strong takedowns, good wrestling position, and hard g&p. Beyond that, everything else is up in the air.

[Ced 0]

I guess they threw in Mir since it would give Brock some credibility to have beaten a former heavyweight champion. Then again Mir has been first round TKO'd in 2 of his 4 comeback matches, so that's not really saying much. Like everyone else is saying, there's so many unknowns regarding Lesnar in an MMA fight that the result is going to be a complete crapshoot. Brock via GnP stoppage or Mir via submission are my two most likely scenarios. Of course my biggest question is how much is Lesnar going to get to potentially fail like Cro Cop?

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

So all of the sudden Mir submitted Antoni Hardonk who had shown some of the worst Jiu Jitsu I've ever seen displayed in UFC against Justin McCully, and now he's back to regular form? Fuck outta here, everyone with any MMA knowledge knew Mir was going to sub Hardonk.

[Guest Warriorfan]

The submission notwithstanding, look at Mir's level of fitness and speed in that fight. Mir was nowhere near that level in prior fights. Why would White risk having Brock lose in his UFC debut when he could give him a few steup fights and have the common fans buy into him being a contender. A true test could come down the road and make for a great pay-per view.

 

The boxing model is a perfect one in this scenario. When you have a prospect you bring them along slowly, resulting in the fighter gaining confidence and the crowd believing in that fighters viability as a legitimate threat. Brock is a rookie what sense does this fight make at this time?

 

While the price point for Brock may be motivating White to get big returns as soon as possible, if Mir crushes Brock he will have seen that money go up in smoke.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

Brock is high risk, high reward. This isn't Japan. UFC doesn't give their fighters jobbers to beat on nine times out of ten. That hurts them at times, but it also means they can't be accused of coddling stars.

 

Brock is going to be under the microscope big time. He's a former pro-wrestler. The steroid allegations are going to fly all over the place. By putting Brock against Mir, it's a huge gamble but a smart one. If Brock loses UFC can just say that Brock lost to a high level fighter. If Brock wins, it immediately throws him into UFC's title hunt.

 

No one honestly knows what will happen. Brock could get punched in the face once and then mentally give up. Or it could enrage him like he'd sometimes get in pro-wrestling. Who really knows? Brock's been training for MMA now for so long that I can't even conceive him not having at the very least rudamentary skills in striking and submissions. But weirder things have happened.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I didn't mean it as a fight Mir could easily win. I meant it would by no means be a shock to see him win. I am very interested in this fight

[Lord of The Curry 0]

I didn't mean it as a fight Mir could easily win. I meant it would by no means be a shock to see him win. I am very interested in seeing Mir get his face smashed in

 

EFA.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

I imagine the line of thinking is "Brock is too much of a question mark, if he loses to a can then he's done, if he loses to a former champ... he lost to a former champ and we can start feeding cans without people complaining that he's being babied." Plus they love Frank Mir, they probably see Frank vs. Tim 2 in the future if Mir wins, and stylistically it gives Brock something of a chance to be competitive, albeit a small one.

 

Probably one of the best choices they could have made.

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

Word is that Brock picked it himself. Odds are Dana wanted to give him someone easier.

 

Brock by Ian Freeman type-shellacking.

[The Niggardly King 0]

There are only two outcomes

 

Mir by quick submission... like within the first three minutes of round 1

 

Mir gasses out in the 1st, Lesnar sits on him for 2 rounds and gets the decision.

[Youth N Asia 0]

I think if Mir gasses then Brock pounds him until the ref calls the fight

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

If Mir gasses, odds are Brock will be gassed too.

[Hawkius Maximus 0]

If Mir gasses, odds are Brock will be gassed too.

 

I honestly have no idea how you'd reach this conclusion. Frank Mir has gassed in every single fight he's ever had that's gone past the first round. There isn't a single one where he looked even remotely fresh after the first round. Frank Mir is a one round fighter, as his record indicates. Mir's even gassed in a few fights that were in the first round.

 

I'm not saying Frank Mir isn't a good fighter (or was), but saying that Brock Lesnar who has been in competitive high level sports in some form his ENTIRE adulthood is going to gass at the same time or before Frank Mir is insane. Brock getting KO'd, okay. Submittied? Okay. Losing a decision? Okay. Brock gassing? No way.

 

I'll even go as far as to say that if Brock were to gass, I'd never post in this forum again due to how wrong I was. I'm that confident that Brock Lesnar will not gass in this fight.

[Lei Tong 0]

A jacked, 265+lbs. guy whose fighting experience is a total of about 60 seconds won't gas should the fight go deep? Excuse me for being a bit skeptical

[AntiLeaf33 0]

Has Brock been doing anything noteworthy to improve on his striking game?

 

Also, I'm going to have to go with the "Brock won't gass" crowd on this one. Really don't think the fight will go long enough for either guy to gass, to be completely honest.

[Lord of The Curry 0]

Or the fight won't be long BECAUSE they're both gassed. Or that.

[RavishingRickRudo 0]

Numerous high level wrestlers have gassed in short time in MMA, so that sort of conditioning doesn't necessarily translate to fighting. Factor in it's Brocks 2nd fight, first in the UFC, where there is a high degree of pressure on him and odds are he'll lose a lot of energy by the time the ref says go. Plus Frank is a big guy, which is a lot of weight to move around, and a high level grappler, which makes him harder to move around, and we don't know how Brock reacts to getting hit - which in itself will gas someone who is not used to getting hit.

 

How could you possibly be confident in an unproven commodity not gassing?

[The Niggardly King 0]

RUNNING POWERBOMB ON THE BIG SHOW

 

HE AIN'T GASSING

[Your Paragon of Virtue 0]

He's big with muscles! Of course he won't gas!

[Lei Tong 0]

He's big with muscles! Of course he won't gas!

 

[Lt. Al Giardello 0]

Dawg, you guys see the training he went through before he faced The Rock for the title at Summerslam 02? No way he's gassing homie.

[Guest nWoCHRISnWo]

Going to Vegas that weekend anyway, so might as well go to my first live UFC. Can anyone tell me about when the tickets for this should go on sale? And do they sell out quickly?