UFC 100 Lesnar VS Mir: Analysis

(Photo by Peter Kramer/Getty Images)

The main event for UFC 100 this Saturday is an intriguing matchup between 3-1 UFC Heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and 12-3 Interim champion Frank Mir in a title unification bout resulting in the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Championship.

These two fighters squared off at UFC 81, which was Lesnar's first fight in the UFC. Mir submitted Lesnar with a kneebar one minute 30 into the first round. Both fighters have grown since then, recording their biggest wins of their careers. Lesnar beat Couture at UFC 91 and Mir beat Nog at UFC 92.

So obviously both fighters have evolved since UFC 81. Lesnar seems to get better at every aspect of his game. Every fight he has, his striking has improved, his takedowns have improved his octagon intelligence has improved, whether or not his jiu-jitsu has improved is not know as it wasn't tested against Herring or Couture.

Mir has greatly improved in both boxing technique and work ethic. Mir is considered to be in the best shape of his life and his knockout of Nogueira shows how his boxing has improved.

The best way to analyse the matchup would be to evaluate who has the upperhand in different aspects of the fight: striking, takedown/takedown defence, ground game, conditioning, and experience.

Striking: Frank Mir was never known for his striking, but in his recent fight against Minatauro Nogueria he displayed solid combinations that rocked the Pride veteran and resulted in multiple knockdowns and the eventual knockout in the second round.

But Mir's combinations although an improvement technically from his earlier fights were extremely basic and extremely predictable, especially his right, left, uppercut combo. Lesnar showed his true punching power against Heath Herring and Randy Couture, and especially in the Randy Couture fight he showed that his punches didn't need to fully connect to hurt.

A certainty is that Greg Nelson has been working with Brock on his striking to capatalise on Mirs biggest weakness.

Verdict: Lesnar has one-punch knockout power which Mir lacks (shows in the Nog fight when he should have finished him way earlier) which gives the advantage to Lesnar.

Takedown/Takedown defence: Brock Lesnar is a former NCAA wrestling champion, and unsurprisingly, wrestling is his MMA foundation and his main strength. He uses his unique combination of excellent technique, amazing speed (for his size) and almost superhuman strength to out-wrestle more experienced opponents (Randy Couture).

Mir is not known for his takedown and especially not known for takedown defence, mostly because he allows opponents to take him down so he can utilise his deadly guard.

Whether or not Mir will try to defend Brock's takedown is hard to predict. He could either try to submit Brock from his guard or do anything he can to stay on his feet and avoid hammerfists like their first encounter. But most likely, if Brock wants to take the fight to the ground (big if), he will be able to.

Verdict: Brock has a massive advantage in the wrestling department but that could also play into Mirs hands.

Ground Game

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