UFC 140: Is Frank Mir Back in the Title Mix with a Win?

If you ever wondered how good Frank Mir is, just ask him: He’ll gladly tell you how great he is.

Much like Chael Sonnen, Mir is a man who knows how to promote himself. Usually it involves some fact mixed with some outlandish statements, such as the one he made regarding having superior punching power to that of Junior Dos Santos.

Mir has a pretty loud bark, but also has a bite to back it up with.

There’s no doubt regarding his talent. He’s one of the top grapplers in the heavyweight division and has shown improved striking in his past few fights.

He seems to have removed the stereotype that he doesn’t train hard and is always looking for an answer as to what he can do better.

When he was out-muscled by Brock Lesnar, he went and added muscle. After being controlled in the clinch by Shane Carwin, he worked on his clinch control.

Mir is one of the smartest minds to compete in MMA. Behind all the attitude and pompousness that he gives off is a wealth of knowledge. He knows what it takes to win.

His past few fights have also indicated that he is beginning to “put all the pieces together.”

Although the fight against Cro Cop was largely uneventful, he came back and had an impressive showing against Roy Nelson.

Against Nelson, Mir showed some improved wrestling with his takedowns and nailed a beautiful hip toss.

Just like earlier in his career, as soon as Mir gets his career on track, something bad happens to derail it. Earlier in his career it was a motorcycle accident, now it’s his rematch with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.

Another win over Nogueira will erase any doubts from the first fight since it was revealed Big Nog suffered from a bad staph infection, but it will do little to further Mir’s title hopes.

Nogueira just won a fight in which the majority of MMA fans believed would be his last. Every time we believe the old Nogueira is back for one more run, he shows his age.

Mir needs a win over a top-five heavyweight now, not a top-five heavyweight of five years ago, to truly solidify his place among the title contenders.

A fight against Alistair Overeem or a much more meaningful (and profitable) rematch with Brock Lesnar would’ve been a much better decision for Mir.

Much like the light heavyweight and lightweight divisions in the UFC, there’s a lot of guys at the top and it’s going to take some time to sort things out.

I don’t believe Dana White will give Overeem a title shot should he beat Lesnar and Lesnar has a long way to go before challenging for the title in my eyes.

Mir just needs to have a convincing win against Nogueira and hope the loser of Velasquez-Dos Santos is available sooner rather than later.