'Reinvented', Mir is open to fights with Lesnar and Minotauro and says: 'The sky is the limit'

Mir (photo) returned to the winning path against Pezão. Photo: Reproduction

Frank mir trust that the knockout over Antonio Pezão, in the main fight of UFC Fight Night 61, in Porto Alegre (RS), is just the beginning of his resurgence in the heavyweight division. The former champion, who had lost four consecutive defeats, found his way back to victory with a knockout over the Brazilian, in the first round.

In a press conference shortly after the fight, Mir was optimistic about his short and medium-term future in the organization. “I think with the skills I've shown, the sky is the limit. I have great training partners, great coaches. My next opponents, whoever they are, ranked or not, with the belt or not, should be worried,” he warned.

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Mir said that after his most recent defeat, in February 2013, he seriously thought about hanging up his gloves. “After the fight with alistair overeem, I met with Lorenzo [Fertitta, UFC partner] and said 'enough is enough. Let me work as a commentator or something.' My wife laughed and told me to take six months off so my body could heal. I did yoga and saw that several mothers were giving me a bath! There I saw that my physical condition was terrible,” she said.

Thus, the North American said that, once he recovered from the injuries he suffered, he bet on a new weapon to revive himself: boxing. “After a while, I saw that I felt really good. A trainer told me I was moving like I did when I was in my early 20s. The last piece of the puzzle was my boxing coach, who made me realize that boxing is underutilized in MMA because we don't have that many boxing coaches,” he said. "This is a Frank mir reinvented. My father, who is Cuban, says I needed to use my jab more, but I wasn't doing that. I started studying guys who had good jabs, like [Oscar] de la Hoya, and I saw that the best boxers have the best jabs.”

As for his next challenges in the octagon, Mir was open to facing two old acquaintances again. “If they want me to fight again in Brazil, I have a lot of respect for [Minotauro] Nogueira. If he only has one fight left and wants to retire by facing me, I would be more than happy to give him that. It would be a great fight and it would get people watching him too. He is a phenomenal warrior, I have total respect for him. I used to imitate him when I was younger, to try to learn how to become a fighter,” he commented. “And fight with Brock Lesnar It would be great and it would put my name on high. I think a fight between us would be phenomenal. If he decides to come back, I would welcome him. I think he doesn't like to take a lot of punches and I'm learning to throw hard punches”, he laughed.

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