Mir (photo) faces Pezão in Porto Alegre. Photo: Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC
Frank mir believes he has all the prerequisites to achieve his first victory in years in his next fight, in front of Antonio Pezão at UFC Fight Night 61 to be held in Porto Alegre (RS), on February 22nd.
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The former heavyweight champion, who hasn't won a fight since December 2011, considers himself better than his future opponent in all areas of MMA. However, Mir highlighted the recovery power and determination shown by Pezão in his fights, which he believes is one of the Brazilian's strengths. “I think I'm technically superior to Pezão in almost every aspect of the sport. But I think Pezão is a tough guy, with a lot of heart. I've seen a lot of his fights where he outperforms himself, like against Mike Kyle [at Strikeforce, in 2010], where he gets knocked down, the fight is almost ended in the first round and he manages to survive and turn the game around. He has an ability to compose himself that most heavyweights don't have”, he analyzed, in an interview with the North American website “MMA Junkie”.
Even in Pezão's victory over alistair overeem, considered one of the Brazilian's highlights in MMA, was included in Mir's analysis. “In the fight against alistair overeem, apart from the five seconds in which he was knocked out, he had been losing. In every moment of the exchange he was dominated, from the beginning until the moment of the knockout. Alistair made a single mistake. But Pezão remained aggressive and threw those blows. A lot of guys, especially in the heavyweight division, are naturally mentally weak. We get things easily because we are big, we were always the biggest kids on the playground,” he continued.
The fight between Pezão and Mir will be the main attraction of UFC Fight Night 61, which will also be the UFC's first time in Rio Grande do Sul. Both are going through difficult times: Pezão is coming off two losses and a draw, and Mir has suffered four defeats in his last four fights.
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