For the past five years, Frank Mir has been a top ten heavyweight. Of course he won the UFC heavyweight title in 2004, but it took him a while for him to become a top fighter again after his horrific motorcycle accident. He’s been able to persevere for all these years, while other heavyweights have faltered due to injuries or age. You look at heavyweights like Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, and Mirko Cro Cop who couldn’t keep fighting against top-level competition. That’s one of the main accomplishments that makes Mir so respected. He has been a top heavyweight for all these years going up against the best heavyweights on a consistent basis.
Its time for Frank Mir to consider retirement
Unfortunately for him, he’s now joined the list above of heavyweights who can’t hang with the cream of the crop. Everyone knew it was a make or break fight for both Mir and Alistair Overeem on Saturday night. Even though it was stylistically a bad matchup for Mir, nobody expected the fight to go for a full 15 minutes. It wasn’t supposed to be that gruesome for an extended period of time. Somehow it happened and Overeem was superior in all aspects of the fight. He was moving much quicker, his cardio drastically improved, and his ground control was tremendous.
It was hard to place expectations on Mir for this fight. Most people including myself had Overeem winning in dominant fashion. I’m not going to say that the fight was a complete surprise. How the fight commenced is what startled me the most. Overeem looked rejuvenated and didn’t seem to be fazed at any moment, while Mir couldn’t close the distance successfully. Besides the one double leg takedown and guillotine attempt, he couldn’t come up with any sort of offense.
This is now the fourth consecutive fight that Mir was soundly defeated. It was also the fourth fight in his career that he took a gruesome beating. His losses to Lesnar, Carwin, and Junior Dos Santos were all mostly one-sided as well. Besides the loss to Lesnar, I don’t think he’s ever taken a worse beating in his UFC career. How he managed to survive is more of a testament to Overeem playing it safe according to him. Obviously Mir is tough, all you have to do is watch his comeback wins over Noguiera and Lesnar. If the stakes weren’t career threatening, you may have seen Overeem be more aggressive.
What was most disappointing about Mir’s performance is that he never really threw many power punches. I’ve always considered Mir to be one of the most intelligent fighters of all time. If you hear him analyze fights, he does an incredible job. Why he didn’t want to test Overeem’s standup defense didn’t make sense to me. He knew he was down by two rounds going into the third round. Instead of trying to go for the knockout, he goes for desperate takedowns attempts that were predictable. Overeem sensed it and put him on his back, which led to Mir taking even more punishment.
You look at how he prepared for this fight by bringing in a Dutch kick boxer in James McSweeney. For him to do that, it made me believe that he was ready to strike with Overeem. We’ve seen how Overeem hasn’t responded well to taking punishment in his recent losses. Mir only connected on five of his 26 strikes, which is extremely disappointing. Even though he struggled closing the distance, there weren’t many occasions where he seemed to setup any meaningful combinations.
As great as Mir is on the ground, people tend to forget about how good Overeem is there as well. You heard Joe Rogan repeat on multiple occasions that Overeem won the Abu Dhabi submission-grappling tournament in 2005. People constantly rave about his striking, which they should because he’s clearly accomplished there. I’d just wish they gave his grappling skills more credence. That is why it didn’t surprise me at all to see Overeem control the fight on the ground, while he was on top. It also didn’t surprise me to see him get out of Mir’s guillotine, considering that was his patented submission move from back in Pride.
For about 14 minutes of the fight, it was one of the most one-sided beatings I’ve seen in quite some time. Mir showed great poise in coming back from being nearly finished in the first round to actually complete a double leg takedown. It did catch me off guard, along with him locking in a guillotine for about four seconds. Could you imagine how ridiculous it would be if Overeem’s UFC career were ended by his signature submission move?
In the end, it wasn’t the case and Mir was no match for him. Even though he didn’t take much punishment against the cage, which surprised everyone. Most people thought for sure that Overeem would look to overpower Mir against the cage inside the clinch. He still had success inside the clinch, which only took minutes with a knee that rocked Mir. Even if the fight isn’t against the fence, Overeem is an absolute nightmare when he’s got his opponent inside his clinch. We knew that was a major flaw in Mir’s skillset, so it didn’t surprise anyone to see him take significant damage from there.
This isn’t a complete bashing of Mir’s career. It was baffling to see how many writers were saying that this fight would determine his legacy. He is two-time heavyweight champion and has been a top ten heavyweight for the past five years. The fact that he came back from a near-death experience from the motorcycle accident, along with drug and alcohol addiction is phenomenal. He’s fought for the heavyweight title on five occasions. This fight wasn’t going to change his legacy; he’s proven to be a Hall of Famer.
When Tito Ortiz and Chuck Liddell were fighting for the last time in the UFC, there wasn’t any talk about their legacy. They were always going to be remembered as Hall of Famers, as Mir should be. Eventually you decline as a fighter and simply can’t compete against stronger opponents, who are also more athletic and are technically sound. It happened to the guys that I mentioned above, where they simply couldn’t compete with the best anymore and either took a vicious beating (Ortiz) or knocked out in devastating fashion (Liddell).
If the UFC were to give Mir one more fight, as a way for him to potentially go out as a winner then that would be understandable. I’m sure the UFC is reluctant to cut him from the roster, even though he’s making six figures per fight. Still Mir is a company guy, which is why I was really skeptical in the “loser leaves town” concept. I’m sure they will talk to him and try to convince him to retire, as they should. Other than one more fight, that should be it for his career because he’s taken an incredible amount of punishment over the past two and half years. He’s stated publicly that he only likes to fight top heavyweights. As someone as decorated as him, I don’t think he’ll lower himself to fight someone not in the top ten for more than one fight. That was the case with most fighters, who were inducted into the Hall of Fame. Eventually you need to realize your limitations as a fighter. We all know Mir is an intelligent person; hopefully he makes the right decision for his career.
Whether you love him or hate him, Mir will always be someone that you have to respect. Ever since 2008, every fight he’s competed in has been huge. His longevity at the top of the division is an achievement that not many heavyweights can attest to. Eventually, the battles took a toll on your body. Your head movement begins to decrease and you eat more punches along with being overpowered by stronger heavyweights. Hopefully this is the end for Mir, if not one more fight out of respect for his Hall of Fame career. He has nothing left to prove to us, the same applied for Liddell, Ortiz, Couture, and Hughes. It’s time to accept that Mir is another fighter, who has realized reality in a harsh way. He’s had a tremendous career that has nothing left to prove.
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