Frank Mir: Why Shane Carwin Is Just a Warm-up Fight

Brock Lesnar is a beast, and one who Frank Mir made the unfortunate mistake of making angry. 

Who can forget Lesnar seething with rage, ridiculing his fallen opponent despite the fact that he had thoroughly defeated him only a few seconds earlier?

Fast forward to today and we see a new Frank Mir, one who is on a mission for redemption.  Since his crushing defeat to Brock Lesnar, Mir has been focused on avenging his loss and perhaps more importantly, his pride.

Lesnar's goal is to maul his opponents using a combination of his freakish strength and agility, alongside the wrestling acumen that made him an NCAA wrestling champion. 

Brock overwhelms his opponents, and the scary part is despite this seemingly one-dimensional strategy, there is little that anyone can do to stop it.

The Old

In his second fight with Lesnar, Mir thought he had the strategy to defeat Brock.  Mir banked on utilizing speed and his newfound confidence in the boxing he displayed against Minotauro Nogueira. 

Mir came in at a svelte 245 pounds to Brock's hulking weight of 265+ pounds, hoping that if he couldn't outpower Brock, he could use his skill standing and BJJ on the ground to secure a victory.

This strategy, of course, failed miserably and leads us to Mir's next warmup fight at UFC 111 against Brock Lesnar Jr., aka Shane Carwin.

I don't say warmup fight out of disrespect to Shane Carwin.  I am sure many people, including myself, would love to see the whole "good guy vs. bad guy" angle and have Carwin teach big bad Brock a lesson. 

But let's be real, I'm not really sure Carwin does anything better than Brock.  I mean, can you really see Carwin ground and pound Lesnar? Puhleeze , this argument about Carwin being as physically imposing as Brock is just the UFC's way of trying to make the fight seem more competitive. 

Lots of people claimed Brock was undeserving of his title shot, but what competition has Carwin really faced that makes him so much more experienced? 

A winning record in the UFC is a much more telling story of experience than no-name wins in smaller organizations. 

The only really big win Carwin has had was against Gabriel Gonzaga, a far from flawless performance that saw Carwin's nose broken and his brain rattled a few times. 

The New

With Mir vs. Carwin, we have the perfect opportunity to witness Frank put into practice his new strategy against Brock using power vs. power.  

While this strategy against Lesnar might not work for a lot of people, Mir proved that his new Overeemesque bulk-up has not hindered his speed or boxing ability and if anything will benefit his submission setups on the ground as well. 

Against Carwin, Mir will have the advantage standing up where he should be able to utilize the boxing that helped him stop Nogueira (the first time in Minotauro's storied career), and the countering that stunned supposed stand-up ace Cheick Kongo. 

On the ground, there is no question that Mir will have the advantage with the submission game.  Unfortunately, this creates a dilemma for Carwin, since his best chance of winning will be his ground and pound.

Still, after facing Lesnar's fury twice, will Mir really be intimidated by anything Carwin can throw at him?  With new Frank roughly matching Carwin's size, I think the answer is a resounding no .

In all honesty, the UFC should be applauded for making this fight.  The winner of this fight can legitimately say that they have the best chance at usurping King Lesnar's throne atop the heavyweight division. 

However, with Mir addressing his biggest weakness, don't be surprised if come UFC 111, Mir treats Carwin as nothing more than a warm up fight for Brock.