Frank Mir is a two-time UFC heavyweight champion with more victories in the division than any fighter. That’s why he knows it’s never been tougher to pull off what he’s trying to accomplish at UFC 146.
The UFC is going big in its Memorial Day weekend show, headlined by five heavyweight fights at the MGM Grand Garden in Las Vegas. Junior Dos Santos will make his first title defense against Mir, who marvels at the UFC’s current roster of enormous fighters.
“The UFC has always had the best fighters in every weight, but typically in the heavyweight division, (only) the top five was dangerous guys fighting for the title,” Mir said. “The top 10, maybe you’d talk about them in the conversation. I don’t think five or six years ago, we could have had a card that had five bouts of heavyweights fighting — and then we’ve had injuries, too. If we’d had a card five years ago with five heavyweight fights and somebody got injured, the whole card would have had to be scrapped.”
Heavyweights jumped to the forefront of the UFC in recent years with the rise and fall of Brock Lesnar, who quit his pro wrestling career and made a high-profile run to the UFC title, stopping Mir (16-5) along the way in July 2009. Lesnar battled injuries and illness but also struggled to compete with the new wave of dynamic talent arriving in the division, eventually retiring last December after getting pulverized by Alistair Overeem.
Mir’s title shot would have belonged to Overeem, but the Dutch kickboxer failed a drug test, clearing the way for Mir to attempt to reclaim the heavyweight belt just two days after his 33rd birthday in a fight with Dos Santos, the Brazilian boxer with humble beginnings and a remarkable MMA pedigree.
“It’s a huge moment in my life and career,” Mir said. “Eventually, one day we retire and we’re forgotten as athletes, but people try to somehow make their mark on history. It’ll give me something to brag about to my grandchildren.”
A card stacked with heavyweights is a first for mixed martial arts’ dominant promotion, but all five matchups have changed since the fights were originally announced.
Roy Nelson fights Dave Herman, Shane Del Rosario takes on Stipe Miocic and 6-foot-11 Stefan Struve fights Lavar Johnson on the UFC’s first pay-per-view show headlined by five heavyweight fights — more than 2,400 pounds of mixed martial artists, according to UFC President Dana White.
