Frank Mir is Not Happy About the Idea of Possibly Derailing Andre Arlovski's Title Hopes

Quote :

Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski have a lot in common. They’re both over six feet tall, they were both born in 1979, and they both recently used Antonio “Bifgoot” Silva as a stepping stone for their careers. (Ed note: Click here to celebrate that sweet burn with me.)

Less than a year ago, it looked like Mir all but destined to wind up alongside his former rival in the “forced retirement” line, and now, he’s looking at a potential title shot if he is victorious over Arlovski, whom himself just defeated a heavily-favored top 5 opponent in his last contest. The two veteran heavyweights will do battle at UFC 191: Johnson vs. Dodson 2 in just a couple weeks in a fight that has damn near everyone foaming at the mouth in anticipation. Everyone except Frank Mir, that is.

Mir lamented his frustrations to the Las Vegas Review-Journal:

In one sense, I’m not happy about it on a social level. I think we both have a lot to offer the sport and I don’t want to see either one of us derailed right now. I would have been much happier with this situation if we could have skipped each other at this point. I could have fought someone else in the top three and he could have fought Werdum for the title and then we could have faced each other in a title fight instead if he would have won.

I have a lot of respect for Andrei. He’s a guy that if my kids were to tell me right now they were fans of Andrei, I would completely cultivate that. Here’s a guy who was at the top. He went from the pinnacle of our sport to getting cut, signing with other organizations, losing more and he’s getting put out cold. Everyone is saying he’s done, his chin is gone, he needs to retire and this guy doesn’t listen to anybody. He just said, ‘Nope, I’m going to keep moving forward and figure out a way.’ He’s better now.

While it’s obviously not the ideal thing you’d like to hear from a guy heading into one of the biggest fights of his life, can you really fault Mir here? Like most of us diehard Arlovski fans who totally predicted his comeback from the day he first left the UFC with complete, unwavering assuredness (raises hand), Mir’s pulling for the old guy. The guy who’s been knocked down, beat down, black and blue. The guy who took a bad situation and made it right. The guy who, if he fell back down, you’d help him back up again. (Ed note: The soundtrack for that inspiring bit of prose can be found here).

Then again, over half of the heavyweight division’s top 10 are old dudes either in the midst of a comeback or on the tail end of one, so Mir’s options for potential opponents are pretty limited here. I wonder if he knows that the new champ and the former champ have been booked in a rematch for no apparent reason. That’d be a kick right to his wrinkly old balls.

In any case, I hope for Mir’s sake that his lack of motivation to fight Arlovski doesn’t affect his performance in the cage come September 5th. “The Pit Bull” is already being listed as a 3-to-1 favorite and everyone who knows anything about this sport knows that Nostalgic Frank Mir can be found just between High Altitude Velasquez and Unmotivated Penn on the list of P4P Worst Fighters Ever.

http://www.cagepotato.com/quote-of-the-day-frank-mir-is-not-happy-about-potentially-derailing-andrei-arlovski-at-ufc-191/


I gotta say, If I were in Mir's shoes, I'd like to think I'd feel the same way.
Guy is definitely a class act.

great article.

love both of those guys.

but im happy they are fighting. its what is needed and this match makes perfect sense.

the HW division is so thin a setback doesnt do much. all you need to do is come back and put on a good showing and you are in the mix again

Yeah I know both guys have been on some pretty shitty losing streaks somewhat recently, but I don't think they're in danger of competing in any "loser leaves town" type of matches any time soon! lol

its scary how thin the hw division is. they really need a few new guys to spice things up.

Fun fight, but I wont be happy that either guys loses...

I'd be happy to see either guy get a title shot. Mir vs Werdum would be great to watch, but I think I'd rather see Arlovski vs Werdum 2.
It won't matter though if Velasquez beats Werdum next, because neither of those guys will be getting a shot at him in that case. The UFC will follow their formula of having Velasquez fighting only 3 different fighters for years on end and give him JDS or Bigfoot.

cain vs fedor

or fedor was aa/mir winner