Frank Mir has never been one to be shy about telling you how great he is.
The former UFC Heavyweight Champion has always been quick to deliver a good sound byte and that hasn’t changed heading into his UFC 130 bout with Roy Nelson.
Our good friends at MMAMania had all the details of Mir’s PR tour interviews this week.
Here are his thoughts on his opponent Junior dos Santos:
“I just think I match up well with (Dos Santos). He’s a very good boxer. I think he has excellent hands but sometimes falls into a pattern of only using his boxing and not utilizing his jiu-jitsu and all his other skills.”
How about the criticism he has faced for his lackluster bout with Mirko CroCop last fall?
“The guys in the UFC are very tough. You’re always trying to be the best mixed martial arts fighter. At the end of the day, there’s somebody else in the ring that’s trying to avoid everything that I want to happen. If the other guys start cooperating more, maybe I’d look better.”
Earlier this week, Mir also made mention that he is probably the top challenge for current UFC champ, Cain Velasquez.
“Right now in the UFC I believe I would give him the best fight right now and that’s not taking anything away from him as I feel he is the best fighter in the world right now. I would really be hard-pressed to defeat him, the only reason I pose a bigger threat than some of the other guys is because we really don’t know how well he defends submissions. I think it would take someone who could keep him down for awhile and test how he fights off of his back. Obviously his wrestling is extraordinary as evidenced in his fight against Brock, but who knows how well he would do if he were put in a dangerous spot with a good submission artist. His striking is good, but he does throw short punches which got him in trouble with Cheick Kongo, but unfortunately for Kongo he could not stay on his feet. I think Carwin would be a good match-up for him as well. He punches hard enough to keep his opponents honest and is difficult to put down. Carwin would probably have a good chance at stuffing Cain’s shot, but we really don’t know how well Carwin fights off his back either.”
Now, I do like Mir. He has managed to rejuvenate his career after a down period following the motorcycle accident when he was the champ. But, Mir needs to realize that he was soundly dominated by Brock Lesnar and Shane Carwin over the past few years.
A match with Roy Nelson could actually be really tough for Mir because Nelson has better power and is arguably a better grappler. Nelson actually holds a grappling win over Mir outside of the octagon.
The UFC could use more personalities like Mir to hype their fights, but they could also benefit from him not being quite so delusional.
