Frank Mir Itching To Compete, Wants Brock Lesnar Rubber Match
Frank Mir Itching To Compete, Wants Brock Lesnar Rubber Match
Frank Mir updates us on his fighting career, stating he'd gladly take a rubber match with Brock Lesnar.
Frank Mir versus Brock Lesnar part three, anybody?
Mir may be stuck on the sidelines for the foreseeable future, but not one part of him is thinking about giving up on his MMA career.
Having suffered a loss to Mark Hunt on March 20 at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia, Mir was later informed by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on April 7 that the sample he submitted on the day of the fight had tested positive for oral turinabol metabolites, which is classified as a banned anabolic steroid.
Mir has not competed since, and the situation surrounding his ban hasn't always been the easiest for outsiders to understand. Despite spending this frustrating period in uncertainty, Mir's reiterated he's had no thoughts about calling it quits on his career. Recently, Mir explained to the guys at Submission Radio it's only given him more a hunger to compete.
"Actually, if anything, it just makes you want to compete more," Mir said. "Especially [be]cause, like, taking the last 10 months off, my body -- I think hard training... we really don't understand how to do it yet in MMA, I don't think. I think that's why you see so many guys hurt and taken off cards, because we train at a different intensity than we would at just normal training to learn or to be in shape, and I think it causes a lot of injuries. So when you train for fights, I think it's a cumulative damage.
"I'm still 37, I'm able to work out and just kind of look and still being so exposed to martial arts. I sit there now cageside, watching fights, calling them, doing analytical work, breaking them down. Richard (Hunter) and I are watching fights and breaking them down on the Phonebooth Fighting podcast. I get to see things. I'm like, 'Wow, why did I do it this way if this is the easier way to do it?'"
Despite having the time off, Mir insisted he's not been lazy and has still been training. He also noted there were other fighters much older than him that were still active and achieving success despite their age.
"I've been in the gym, just training just to be healthy and move around," Mir said. "It's like, 'Oh, if I'm able to move and my brain and body can follow what my brain knows what to do, I'm pretty dangerous.' It's just that connection. And obviously in a few years that's going to just take its course to where we're seeing now, where athletes can still perform as fighters in their early 40s.
"Mark Hunt's doing really well in his early 40s. For all practical purposes, I think Dan Henderson should probably be the middleweight champion right now... But eventually, I mean, let's be realistic, saying you're 50 and fighting at a high level probably is still kind of a stretch for human physiology."
When asked if he could be tempted back into the UFC Octagon for a rubber match with his old nemesis in Lesnar, Mir didn't need to take a moment of consideration before giving his answer.
"Oh, absolutely," Mir said. "But I mean, at this point, I just want to go out there and still compete and perform. So fighting Brock, obviously, that would be a good-money payday [be]cause of his name recognition and the amount of people that would watch and the story behind it.
"It makes a lot more sense than some other fights. But at this point, I just want to get back in there and compete."
Listen to Submission Radio's full interview with Frank Mir here (begins at 31:21):
Mir may be stuck on the sidelines for the foreseeable future, but not one part of him is thinking about giving up on his MMA career.
Having suffered a loss to Mark Hunt on March 20 at UFC Fight Night 85 in Brisbane, Australia, Mir was later informed by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) on April 7 that the sample he submitted on the day of the fight had tested positive for oral turinabol metabolites, which is classified as a banned anabolic steroid.
Mir has not competed since, and the situation surrounding his ban hasn't always been the easiest for outsiders to understand. Despite spending this frustrating period in uncertainty, Mir's reiterated he's had no thoughts about calling it quits on his career. Recently, Mir explained to the guys at Submission Radio it's only given him more a hunger to compete.
"Actually, if anything, it just makes you want to compete more," Mir said. "Especially [be]cause, like, taking the last 10 months off, my body -- I think hard training... we really don't understand how to do it yet in MMA, I don't think. I think that's why you see so many guys hurt and taken off cards, because we train at a different intensity than we would at just normal training to learn or to be in shape, and I think it causes a lot of injuries. So when you train for fights, I think it's a cumulative damage.
"I'm still 37, I'm able to work out and just kind of look and still being so exposed to martial arts. I sit there now cageside, watching fights, calling them, doing analytical work, breaking them down. Richard (Hunter) and I are watching fights and breaking them down on the Phonebooth Fighting podcast. I get to see things. I'm like, 'Wow, why did I do it this way if this is the easier way to do it?'"
Despite having the time off, Mir insisted he's not been lazy and has still been training. He also noted there were other fighters much older than him that were still active and achieving success despite their age.
"I've been in the gym, just training just to be healthy and move around," Mir said. "It's like, 'Oh, if I'm able to move and my brain and body can follow what my brain knows what to do, I'm pretty dangerous.' It's just that connection. And obviously in a few years that's going to just take its course to where we're seeing now, where athletes can still perform as fighters in their early 40s.
"Mark Hunt's doing really well in his early 40s. For all practical purposes, I think Dan Henderson should probably be the middleweight champion right now... But eventually, I mean, let's be realistic, saying you're 50 and fighting at a high level probably is still kind of a stretch for human physiology."
When asked if he could be tempted back into the UFC Octagon for a rubber match with his old nemesis in Lesnar, Mir didn't need to take a moment of consideration before giving his answer.
"Oh, absolutely," Mir said. "But I mean, at this point, I just want to go out there and still compete and perform. So fighting Brock, obviously, that would be a good-money payday [be]cause of his name recognition and the amount of people that would watch and the story behind it.
"It makes a lot more sense than some other fights. But at this point, I just want to get back in there and compete."
Listen to Submission Radio's full interview with Frank Mir here (begins at 31:21):