Ariel Helwani got this out of Frank Mir during the UFC 100 conference call transcript:
"I can point out why I think Brock has been successful at striking because we've actually had to address that in my training camp," Mir said on a call to promote UFC 100. "Brock's reach for his height is actually long. A lot of people don't realize that. They talk about his size, his power. Brock is almost 6-foot-4 ... his reach is actually really long. I remember even watching when he beat Randy, and he slipped that punch from Brock. He thought that he was out of the way, and that punch kept on coming, it kept on coming, and it kept on coming. And finally it just caught him and he went down."
Mir added that he had to find sparring partners who are taller than Lesnar so he could practice trading punches with someone who had the same arm length as Lesnar.
"I have two sparring partners that are 6-foot-7 and one who is even 6-foot-8 that we spar with," Mir said. "I had to find training partners that are three or four inches taller than Brock to even how long his arm reach is. Which, you know, if you watch boxing, that's the reason everyone sits there and goes, 'Well, what's his reach?' That's a very helpful tool in a fight -- how big the reach advantage is. Especially if you're throwing punches. The longer your arms are, the better it is."
Mir is very right to worry about Lesnar's reach. He should be concerned with his power too.
Under striking coach Ken Hahn, Mir's striking has improved dramatically in the last year. But many remain convinced that his battering of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira had more to do with the staph infection that had Big Nog in the hospital five days before the fight than any technical improvements worked by Hahn and Mir.
Here's Hahn talking to MMA Junkie about prepping Mir for that fight:
I had Frank train with reputable professional boxers - one heavyweight and one light heavyweight. Then I had him spar with kickboxers, wrestlers and Olympic-level judo players.
When you have a chance to train with so many different high-level guys, there's just no way around improving. .You've got to get better.
...
The bottom line is Frank was willing to listen and do whatever I said. I mean, who's going to say, "You're going to spar professional boxers today? Well, I'm not a boxer." I don't care. You're going to box them, and you're going to survive because that's what is going to get you the hand speed. That's why he was so much more efficient boxing.
He also drops this very interesting nugget about Mir's transition from southpaw to conventional stance and back over the course of his career:
t's because he was originally a southpaw, and then he got into that accident, so he switched to regular stance to favor his non-injured leg. After the (Brock) Lesnar fight, his leg was fully healed, and we decided to go back to his regular fighting stance and go back-and-forth.
His true fighting stance is southpaw, though he integrated the two fighting stances. You can see he actually had three or four fights where he fought in regular stance. And that's enough experience to be able to defend yourself. But, when you look at how he defended from a southpaw stance, he looked 20 times better than from a regular stance.
If he was fighting from a southpaw stance against Brandon Vera, he probably wouldn't have got caught by Brandon's knee. But from a different stance, you have to relearn everything from the beginning.
Frank's a lot more confident in that left-hand stance. But he can switch in and out, and that's what made him so elusive against Nogueira. Looking at the distance and the timing, every time Nogueira tried to step in, he was already gone. And then he would take an angle and weave and throw his punches. It was like in slow motion.
Mir's definitely the underdog going into this fight. In my mind it's going to come down to his ability to stand with Lesnar, avoid the long arms and massive power they carry. If Mir can score on the feet, that and only that will force Lesnar to take the fight to the ground.
If Lesnar charges out and takes the fight to the ground again, he's making a huge mistake. He already lost to Mir once on the ground. Why take that risk when he's got the reach and power advantages on his feet. It's a five round fight, if Lesnar can be patient, the fight should be his.
