Frank Mir: "I boxed with Nogueira for seven minutes and made him look silly."

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"There is just something inside me now that I can't get rid of and it hurts all the time. It's the dreams I have at night about Brock [Lesnar]. If I don't get to go in there and physically hurt Brock, then I don't know if I can live with myself. My stand up has been just steamrolling, better and better every fight. I boxed with Nogueira for seven minutes and Nogueira... I made him look silly. I caught Cheick Kongo, who is probably the best striker we have in the UFC, and I put him out in about a minute. I'm 265 lbs. now, and I'm quick and I'm skilled. Everything says in my heart and in my will that I won't be denied. I have to have this. I want him [Shane Carwin] to know that he came in there full and strong and ready and I still took his heart out of his chest. He might hate Brock, but he don't hate him as much as I do. That's the difference of feeling the power that I will come out on top on UFC 111."  - Frank Mir

Nobody wants to fight Brock Lesnar more than Frank Mir. Since splitting their two previous fights and engaging in threatening comments, Mir is anxiously waiting to step into the Octagon and face the champion again.

After winning their first fight, Lesnar was angry and said that getting caught with a submission was a fluke. Before their second fight, they traded a lot of verbal banter, and Lesnar even broke a door when thinking about their first encounter. When it came time to fight at UFC 100, Lesnar dropped Mir to the mat, swarmed on him, and delivered many strong punches to Mir's face and head. While the fight lasted two rounds - and Mir was able to get in some strikes on his feet at the beginning of the second - the fight ended via TKO, with Mir's face bloodied.

Sour from the loss, Mir has been working hard on bulking up and building muscle. He said that the difference between their two fights was that Lesnar improved his weaknesses, whereas he did not. Lesnar had trained in jiu-jitsu and worked on his ground game in order to not get caught by another submission. However, Mir had not built up his strength - something that he said he lacked.

So since July, when they fought for the second time, Mir has packed on 20 pounds of muscle and has worked on his stand up. Already putting his striking skills to the test against Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92, he took on French striker Cheick Kongo at UFC 107. Kongo's striking was expected to give Mir problems, but the American caught Kongo early with an overhand and then brought him to the ground, finishing the fight by guillotine submission.

Next up for Mir is Shane Carwin. Carwin, a product of Jackson's Submission Fighting, was supposed to face Lesnar at UFC 106 last year, but when Lesnar pulled out of their bout with an illness, Carwin was stuck waiting on the sidelines. The NCAA Division II wrestler has not fought since last March, at UFC 96, when he knocked out Gabriel Gonzaga. Taking on Mir will be a big task, but ring rust should not be an issue. Carwin was supposed to fight Cain Velasquez at UFC 104, and Lesnar at UFC 106 and UFC 108, and has been training consistently throughout the year. The winner of Mir vs. Carwin will hold the interim heavyweight belt and next face Lesnar sometime during the summer.