Mir: I want Brock or anyone in top 10
Frank Mir: “If a fight (with Lesnar) doesn’t happen, I’d fight any fighter who is ranked higher than I am. Also I’d fight any of those people who I lost to.”
The UG’s man on the ground in Chechenya, Boris Dealon, interviews former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Mir is coming off a first round win over Antonio Silva last month. He traveled to Moscow and then to Grozny, capital city of the Chechen Republic, Russia, where he was a special guest at the Groznaya Bitva card.
Boris Dealon: Not a long time ago you made a triumphal comeback literally having destroyed Antonio Silva in just a few minutes. What was your plan for that fight and did your opponent come up to your expectations?
Frank Mir. My plan for the fight against Silva was to use good boxing, to use my movement to hopefully end up on top and use Jiu-Jitsu to try to finish him. He’s a very tough guy with a lot of heart, so I wanted to make sure that I took him out as convincingly as possible.
BD: In light of your last victory, where do you see yourself in ratings?
FM: I think in the light of my last victory I just showed that after time off I just made it back, that I’m a force in UFC and hopefully I will be fighting another guy in the Top-5 or Top-10 to increase my rank for the title.
BD: There’s a lot of talks about a Brock Lesnar comeback to UFC, and a potential third fight between y’all. Are you interested in this fight?
FM: I’m very interested to fight Brock Lesnar for the third time, especially if we fight in Madison Square Garden. It would be a huge and very historic card.
BD: If a fight with Lesnar won’t happen, who would you like to see as your next opponent? Would you like to come back to the octagon as soon as possible or you want to take a short break?
FM: If a fight (with Lesnar) doesn’t happen, I’d fight any fighter who is ranked higher than I am. Also I’d fight any of those people who I lost to to show that I’ve improved so much with the time off.
BD: You’ve fought a WWE artist twice already. What do you think on perspectives of another WWE artist CM Punk?
FM: I think that CM Punk will have a little bit different case scenario. He has a lot of popularity.
BD: What do you think about all the hype about the flunked drug tests by top fighters of the federation? Can you tell something about that?
FM: I think that drugs are part of any aspects of any sports, there’s always a few people that are hungry, want to make money, so they take chances, I don’t think the top guys have as much of a problem, because we have already accomplished things without drugs. I think the drug-testing is a good thing and it makes our sport safe and healthy.
BD: How do you like Grozny? What can you say about this city?
FM: I’m very much enjoying being here. I think that sometimes people forget that sports does really unifies people and fighting is another sport that does that. Like at the Olympics we get all people from different backgrounds, from different cultures and different countries to train and compete against each other. So the fact that we are here in Grozny and hanging out with Muslim people and we all can have fun and train, we are in the same thing, we all are in martial arts, so it’s a good thing.
With Mir hovering just outside the UFC top 10 in the latest media poll, who do you think he should fight next?
Champion : Cain Velasquez
1 Fabricio Werdum (Interim Champion)
2 Junior Dos Santos
3 Travis Browne
4 Stipe Miocic
5 Mark Hunt
6 Josh Barnett
7 Andrei Arlovski
8 Alistair Overeem
9 Ben Rothwell
10 Roy Nelson
11 Frank Mir
About the author:
Boris Dealon is the founder of the popular Russian language Internet MMA portal MMAboxing.ru, a journalist, tournament organizer, and plans soon to extend his talents into fighter management.