Frank Mir Looking to Make Todd Duffee Regret Calling Him Out at Fight Night 71

When a fighter carries the amount of credentials and name recognition that Frank Mir has, others are going to take aim at the target on his back.

After he has spent more than a decade as one of the elite heavyweights in the sport, that's nothing new to the former two-time champion, but it also doesn't mean he has to pay attention to it either.

While that's typically the case for the 36-year-old Las Vegas native, something different occurred when Todd Duffee started calling him out several months back. The heavyweight staple had just snapped a career-worst four-fight losing streak in spectacular fashion, as he scored a devastating knockout victory over Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva in the first round of their tilt at UFC Fight Night 61.

Defeating the former title challenger not only put Mir back into the win column and more than likely salvaged his roster spot in the UFC heavyweight fold, but it also served to recharge his relevance in the division. 

His resurgent profile caught the attention of the heavy-handed knockout artist Duffee, who was looking to make up for ground lost by injury and time away from the cage.

Jason da Silva-USA TODAY Sports

That's all fine and good where Mir is concerned, but he's never been anyone's steppingstone to bigger things, and he doesn't plan to be anytime soon.

Mir and Duffee will square off in the main event at Fight Night 71 on Wednesday, and the man widely regarded as one of the best submission aces in heavyweight history believes he has a harsh lesson to hand out to his opponent in San Diego.

"Hearing him call me out irritated me and it actually got me motivated," Mir told Bleacher Report. "That got me up and training hard and to accept the fight. I'm sure he has his up-and-down moments right now where I think he regrets what he did. Even with that, it still makes sense—and probably why his corner never talked him out of it—because he goes out there and gets finished by me real quick in the first round, he still gets to say he was out there against Frank Mir and it boosts his experience level.

"Losing to me is not going to hurt his career, where losing to someone else who wasn't ranked would do a lot of damage, and that was more than likely who he would have been lined up with next had this not happened."

Going toe-to-toe with Duffee will be Mir's immediate challenge in his quest to get back into title contention, and getting another chance to fight for the heavyweight title is exactly where he is looking to go.

Granted, there have been plenty of ups and downs for the perennial contender in recent years, but the arm-snapping specialist is no stranger to adversity, as the triumphant comeback has become somewhat of a calling card for Mir throughout his career.

Joe Camporeale-USA TODAY Sports

It's in the wealth of his experiences competing at the highest level of the sport where he's found his ability to lock into the objective at hand. He drowns out all the hovering circumstances of what could or couldn't happen in the aftermath of the fight as he keeps his attention fixed on his upcoming opponent.

And while he was aware of what was on the table heading into his last fight—and will be for every fight going forward—it's always going to be the actual fight that matters most.

"After winning my last fight, it felt great," Mir said. "It was very much a relief for my family to know that I could still go out there and perform and get the win. Leading up to the fight, I was really able to block out all the noise around me and focus on the task at hand. I've been in the UFC so long and have been in so many big fights that it has allowed me to really lock in my focus on objects. 

"The win was very rewarding, but leading up to it, things weren't as distracting as people may have thought it was. It is always about the fight and nothing else really matters to me."

Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.