Mir/ Lesnar & UFC81 merged threads

It's apparently been announced for Febuary.

Several different ways to look at this-

A) Lesnar, an unproven comodity in MMA, is being hot-shotted with a big fight against a former UFC champion.
B) Lesnar will be severely tested by a heavyweight of comparable size who's sub game may be good enough to defeat him decisively in his first UFC bout, damaging any future marketability
C) Mir's being given a tough fight; his broken-down body will be ground-and-pounded because he's not yet recovered his top form
D) Between Lesnar's greenness and Mir's broken-downness, this should be a fairly even match-up, if quite possibly a very ugly one.

Lesnar's been given some flack 'cause of his very recent pro-wrestling background, but he was also an NCAA wrestling champion, apparently a very good one. He's apparently trained with both the Melitech camp and with Sean Sherk's camp in Minnesota. And even his pro-wrestling matches, for those of us who watched 'em, showed that he had a lot of power and surprising agility, and wasn't prone to "blowing up" (gassing out). He may be one of the few guys with the power to escape Mir's subs, as long as he doesn't break something trying. I'm predicting that he'll have a very Hughesesque approach to the fight, with big takedowns and harsh ground-and-pound.

I've only seen clips of Mir's recent matches, but he just doesn't seem in top form yet. Given how bad his accident was, I'm not sure he'll ever be there again. On a purely technical level, I think he's got the skills to sub a wrestler with only a year or so of sub training, but I'm not sure he'll have the strength or conditioning to do it. And of course he's the veteran, so if something goes wrong with his gameplan he'll at least be less likely to press the panic button than Lesnar. I can see him winning if he can get a quick sub early, maybe a guillotine off a shoot or an armbar off a scramble.

So those are my thoughts. For me, it'll be sureal seeing a guy I watched at Wrestlemania 20 competing in a UFC event. I'm pulling slightly for Lesnar, just 'cause I think he's got more potential and I'm more familiar with him.

 

I'm honestly not excited by this fight at all. I'm more excited by the Chuck and Wandy fight or the BJ Penn and Joe Stevenson fight. I look forward to seeing if Big Nog will actually fight with Randy Couture, or if they are going to have Big Nog fight with Tim Sylvia for the title.

 

Does this feel like and old fashioned style vs. style match up to anyone else? I feel like it will be over very quickly either with Mir subbing Lesnar or Lesnar taking down and pounding Mir. I don't really think this will be very entertaining and one guy will end up looking really bad.

 

Not an exciting sounding fight but who cannot always tell. I don't know too much about Brock Lesnar the mma fighter but I would not be surprised if he fights in a similar style to matt hughes and sean sherk. I think that mir has never been the same fighter sadly after the accident and is likely to lose this contest. I would watch this fight just to see the fighting style of Lesnar.

I think they have signed Lesnar just to try and get a few from WWE over to mma.

 

I don't know about that. There aren't that many pro-wrestlers with legit backgrounds. Kurt Angle's one, but rumor has it that he's so broken down (has had multiple neck surgeries) that he'd have trouble getting clearance. There's a couple of folks who have wrestled (Shelton Benjiman) or boxed, but by and large the US pro-wrestling scene prepares one more for a job as a stunt-man than for MMA fights.

 

long term, i don't think a loss to mir would hurt lesnar; if he can keep it as his only loss, it could actually help him in terms of marketability, serving as what fans would see as a reality check, and a point to build from. and of course, there's always a rematch...

 

I'm happy to see Frank Mir get a good spot on a card, but I'm just not feeling this fight.

 

Sorry I noticed I forgot to insert the word fans, I think UFC would like to bring some WWE fans over to MMA.

 

Ooooooh... makes much more sense now! And I can kinda agree with you on that point.

 

I am going to go with lesnar. This mir guy doesn't seem in top condition. If he was i would go with him. I think lesnar's power will be a little to much for mir right now.

 

I've got Mir in this. He was never really THAT great before his accident, he's been on the slide since (though seems to be recovering some of his game now), but he's still got tons of experience on Lesnar and a very solid submission game that'll probably lead to him tapping Lesnar out the minute it hits the mat. If Mir's in shape, the only way I see Lesnar winning is by a lay n' pray decision.
That's not to say Lesnar's not got a lot of potential - he does. He's huge, freaky-strong and has a solid wrestling pedigree, but I just don't think a year or so's training's enough to learn to successfully defend submissions from someone with Mir's calibre of BJJ

 

i believe it all depends on which Mir shows up. if he comes in motivated, his experience and submissions should prevail, IMHO

 

Yeah, Mir by virtue of being a seasoned fighter.

 

the experience factor is the big factor

He has a lot of work to do with Royce

paul

 

Moved from Movies and Television to Fight discussions.

 

This is old news. I believe he fighting Frank Mir but don't quote me on it.

As for Lesnar vs Liddell, I think 70+ lbs of weight says otherwise.

 

Mir v Lesnar, UFC 81, Feb 2, 2008. http://www.ufc.com/index.cfm?fa=eventDetail.FightCard&eid=1023

His only MMA win was at a K1 against Min Soo "Mr. Shark" Kim (yeah, I said "against who?" as well). Mir hasn't exactly been getting great opponents himself, since he came back in '06, he's 2-2.

I hope Mir wins, though, he's always been one of my favourite fighters.

 

Brock has dropped a lot of weight from his WWE days. Maybe not using as much performace enhancing substances??? He still is huge, but just not as cut as he was. If I remember, wasn't he close to 300 lbs during his pro wrestling days. And I think now he is around 250? But I bet he is still as strong as an ox!!!

I actually would like to see Brock again Butterbean or Bob Sap. That might be cool.