UFC 140: Heavyweight Frank Mir Deserves More Respect for His Fight Game

Former UFC Heavyweight Champion Frank Mir is the Rodney Dangerfield of mixed martial arts. He just can't get any respect.

Mir has the reputation of being a guy who talks too much and carries himself with an arrogance and cockiness that some critics just can't get past, and it tars the canvas that is a very impressive Octagon resume. Aside from being a former champion, he's also a one-time interim champion and holds a 13-5 record in the UFC.

His career spans 10 years, with a two-year interruption to recover from a serious motorcycle accident. The most recent highlight being a surprisingly dominant win over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in 2008. Mir dominated Big Nog and stopped him at 1:57 of the second round and stamped his place among the best heavyweights in the world. Wait, or did he?

It was Mir's best performance of his career, and yet, the time was ruined by Nogueira's talk of all his injuries going into the fight. Mir wasn't buying it, and even if he was, it's disrespectful to hear things like that from a beaten foe.

Today, I heard Mir have to answer questions about Nogueira's injuries, justify his successful but poor performance against Cro Cop and explain why he was tired in the third round of his win over Roy Nelson. Say what you want about the endless cardio of Mir's mouth, his record speaks for itself and where's the love?

If this is the perception of Mir in the midst of six wins in his last eight fights and two wins in a row, I would hate to hear the critics when he loses.

Mir's only two losses in the last four years have come against Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin, men who have a huge size advantage over him. He's the longest-standing heavyweight in the UFC division. I have been saying for years how some of the crazy love Fedor Emelianenko has received should have been going to Mir, and now, Alistair Overeem is getting more respect. Who has he really beaten?

You can't force all people to love a guy, but you can ask them to objectively look at his professional accomplishments and show him proper respect.

If Frank Mir wins this Saturday night, no matter how he wins, let's give him the respect his skills and career deserve and let him enjoy his win.

Dwight Wakabayashi is a Featured Columnist for Bleacher Report MMA and correspondent for MMACanada.net.

Catch him on Facebook and Twitter at wakafightermma.