Frank Mir Wants To Fight Anderson Silva: Can He Deliver?

In a recent text message to Fighters Only , Frank Mir emphatically stated, "I would love to fight Anderson Silva!" He continued, saying he would be willing to fight Silva in a catch weight bout by weighing in at no more than 235 lbs.

So how would Mir do against Silva? Let’s analyze the quality of their different phases of MMA combat and find out.

Standing (Free Movement) Phase

Silva obviously holds the advantage in the standing phase. With nearly 60 percent of Silva’s victories officially ending in strikes compared to Mir’s 13 percent victory rate due to strikes , Silva certainly holds the technical advantage to finishing the match with punches, kicks, knees, and elbows.

That’s not to say that Mir can’t strike (e.g., Cheick Kongo at UFC 107). And if Mir connected with Silva, he would definitely do damage. However attempting to get there would be very dangerous for Mir.

Would Mir’s power be an overall issue for Silva if the two decide to stand and trade? Possibly, but the first rule of MMA being to take your opponent out of his most skilled phase of combat means that Mir would likely not try to stand with Silva to begin with; plus Silva is simply faster than Mir.

The standing advantage goes to Silva.

Clinch Phase

The clinch between Silva and Mir would be interesting. This phase will probably make the match for either fighter.

Silva is obviously a master at the clinch and has broken quite a few noses with his knees. Mir, however, has immense power in this same phase and has toppled big opponents in the past, only to follow up with a submission.

Whereas Mir might have an advantage in the power department, getting to used it would be a different matter. Silva is incredibly fast and accurate, and it would probably be beneficial for Mir to only use the clinch to get to the ground.

Being that both men would want to keep the clinch temporary—it’s more of a neutral area. Silva would probably want to avoid this phase of combat for fear of being taken to the ground and preferring to trade shots, and Mir would make the clinch a temporary necessity in turning the fight into a ground match.

When taking into consideration Silva's speed and accuracy of knees as well as Mir's power advantage, I believe it’s too unpredictable to make a significant determination of either fighter's advantage in the clinch.

Ground Phase

On the ground, it’s fair to say that the advantage goes to Mir. Silva doesn’t make it a habit going to the ground, but that’s not to say that he hasn’t been successful on the ground in the past. It's just that on paper, he's not as capable as Mir.

Mir has a 61 percent success rate at finishing fights by submission. Silva, on the other hand, has only a small percentage of wins by submission. Silva vs. Mir would be an excellent match as the two fighters are practically an inverse of each other.

Silva is fast and prefers to stand. Mir is powerful and prefers to bring the fight to the ground. Silva has a small percentage of wins by submission. Mir has a small percentage of wins by strikes. The two couldn’t be more contrasting.

One separation between the two is Silva's experience level. He has had thirty fights, whereas Mir has only had eighteen. Nevertheless, Mir has fought some of the biggest fighters in MMA while Silva hasn't faced nearly as big of opponents.

The advantage goes to Mir.

Prediction

This would be a battle of speed and accuracy vs. power and aggression as well as technical proficiency in the clinch. With smaller opponents, Silva has been able to avoid the clinch for entire fights. However, Mir will be a much bigger opponent than Silva is used to, and his size and power advantage will probably make Silva at least struggle a bit in avoiding the clinch.

If Silva could avoid the clinch and make Mir try and shoot, he would probably win. If Mir could use the clinch to take Silva to the ground, he would probably win. However, the likelihood of Mir closing the gap on Silva, being able to actually get a grip on him and take him to the ground seems slim when looking at all of Silva's past fights.

That's not to say that Mir can't win this. He can, but he would have to really make it a tight match and work from the inside to the ground. And it would be great to see the big guy get his mojo back, though to do so he would really need to use his power advantage.

However, having to make an unbiased prediction, I think Silva would ultimately win. But it probably wouldn't be as decisive as his match again Forrest Griffin, for instance. What do you think?