Has any heavyweight fallen and risen as much as Mir?
“It’s hard to become the best in the world and lose it, then become the best in the world and lose it and then to decide again at 36, ‘I’m going to be the best in the world.’”
“Look back over the past, with its changing empires that rose and fell, and you can foresee the future, too.”
Marcus Aurelius
I watched live in London as Frank Mir lost to Ian Freeman at UFC 38 in 2002. Afterwards I talked to a UFC exec and said, a little puzzled, “I thought Mir was the hottest up and coming fighter in the sport.”
The exec looked at me smiling, and said “he is.”
It was true. Mir won four more, winning the UFC belt in the last. Then he suffered a motorcycle accident that took him out for so long he was stripped of his title.
The comeback was hard – he lost two of the next three, falling to Pe de Pano and Brandon Vera.
Then it happened, again, a streak, capped with winning the UFC (interim) belt. Antoni Hardonk, Brock Lesnar, and Big Nog all fell.
Then he lost a rematch with Lesnar and the title. Beat Cheick Kongo. And lost an interim title fight to Shane Carwin.
Then another three-fight win streak, capped with a title shot. But he lost that, to Junior dos Santos. And then he lost to Daniel Cormier, lost to Josh Barnett, lost to Overeem.
It seemed over.
But now he has done it again.
Mir came back to beat Bigfoot winning a Performance of the Night bonus, and then beat Todd Duffee winning a Performance of the Night bonus.
Saturday night in the co-main of UFC 191, Mir fights Andrei Arlovski, who himself has in its own way an equally amazing comeback story. Winner could get a title shot at the winner of Werdum vs Velasquez.
Champion : Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez
2 Junior Dos Santos
3 Stipe Miocic
4 Andrei Arlovski
5 Travis Browne
6 Ben Rothwell
7 Mark Hunt
8 Josh Barnett
9 Alistair Overeem
10 Frank Mir
In an interview with MMAjunkie, Mir’s coach Ricky Lundell details how he did it.
Frank’s been great to work with lately, said Lundell as transcribed by Brent Brookhouse, Chamatkar Sandhu and Abbey Subhan. We were on a low streak for a while, and that’s always difficult for any fighter. But let me tell you why it’s especially difficult for a guy like Frank Mir. Someone like Frank Mir has been to the highest of the highs. Then he got in a motorcycle accident and got that taken away from him. That man is so strong that he decided he was going to face his fear, step up and go back and do it again. So, he did it again.
Then he runs into a brick wall and runs through, literally, murderer’s row inside the octagon, and it wasn’t very long ago when everyone inside the world of MMA said, ‘Hey, you’re down and out. It’s over. You should retire. You’re never going to be anything good inside of the cage.’ And the headlines were unbelievable. To be somebody that’s so great and to be a legend in MMA and have those things said about you, that’s very hard. It’s very easy to take a step back and to say, ‘I’m done. I’m not going to do this anymore.’ But Frank, we sat back, we talked and we said, ‘We need to find you, Frank. We need to find what you really want. Do you want to become the champion of the world again. Is this what you want?’
You can see it just in his approach to the octagon. He’s running out there. He’s excited to get in a fight. He’s excited to show who he is and what he’s capable of. Frank Mir has made gains that so many in mixed martial arts will never make, because it’s hard to become the best in the world and lose it, then become the best in the world and lose it and then to decide again at 36, ‘I’m going to be the best in the world.’ There’s not many out there that have that kind of will, that kind of strength, and that kind of tenacity. He has it.
When Mir steps into the Octagon Saturday night, watch him. See of he looks excited for the fight, and to show what he is capable of. If he does, it could be a short night.
