Kevin Iole has an article up over at Yahoo! Sports outlining Mir's Q&A session on Friday at the MGM Grand Garden Arena. Mir said this about Fedor Emelianenko:
Mir also suggested that a fighter with good technical boxing skills could beat Emelianenko.
"Fedor has fast hands and is a very aggressive puncher," said Mir, who meets Brock Lesnar for the undisputed UFC heavyweight title at UFC 100 on July 11 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. "But a lot of times when he swings, he goes slightly off-balance. If you sit there in front of him, [it’s trouble]. Tim Sylvia could answer that question. But if you use proper boxing, like Andrei Arlovski was doing up to the last five seconds of their fight, you see what happens. I think a very technical fighter will bother Fedor a little bit.
"[A guy] using straight punches, [a guy] with good head movement. That’s what you want. That’s a code word for skill. He’s a very powerful, quick athlete, which some people don’t realize when looking at his body. But if you fight him with skill, I think you can do very well. I thought Andrei was winning that fight until – I don’t know what that was that Andrei did."
This is where things begin to get a bit irritating to me. First and foremost, I would hope Frank Mir isn't referring to himself when he's talking about a very technical fighter who has straight punches and good head movement. All of these quotes are in the context that Fedor should enter the Octagon, but it seems to me defeating Nogueira is either going to the mainstream media's head or Mir's head.
Mir defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. There is no doubt about that, and he showed a much improved standup game. We can't take anything away from Mir in that regard. I still beg to ask the question as to whether Nogueira's was even at 50% due to his nagging injuries. That had a lot to do with the fact that Mir crushed him so easily. Furthermore, am I to believe that suddenly Mir is some sort of world class boxer within the framework of the Heavyweight division?
I wouldn't say the quote is inaccurate by any means. Fedor can be hurt by a very technical boxer. The problem that I have here is that there is no mention of the type of ground tactics and takedown defense a fighter would have to have in order to withstand the onslaught of Fedor Emelianenko. There is no doubt that Andrei Arlovski was winning those opening minutes, but Fedor's speed is a huge attribute we can't dismiss. We also can't dismiss the fact that the "Last Emperor" has one of the meanest ground games within the division.
I ask the question. Is Mir being cocky or just plain confident right now? Is he biting off a bit more than he can chew at this point? My gut tells me these extravagant statements are more on the cocky side than exuding confidence. As my friend says when he sees Mir's rating in UFC Undisputed 2009, "Mir's win over Nogueira gave him a 92!?". Has one win over one of the best in the business truly made Mir an unbelievable fighter? I understand the logic in ranking him highly, but this whole perception that Mir is suddenly this unreal force within the UFC's Heavyweight division still needs to be tested.
UPDATE: In retrospect, the community has definitely helped me see some error in the assumption that Mir thinks his own boxing skills are a major threat. I still stand by the fact that I think some of what Mir has said most recently is over the top, but I can get on board with the fact that he's simply trying to provide some hype of his own.
