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By Jason Amadi, MMATorch columnist
Q: Cody Repass writes: I read the torch app all the time. Checking it up to 10x a day to see all the updates. I was just wondering what any of you guys thought about Mir's future in the heavyweight division? Since the drop to 205 is highly unlikely, I really don't know where he goes from here.
A: Frank Mir’s poor showing in his victory against Mirko Cro Cop at UFC 119 in addition to his already spotty record in the UFC’s heavyweight division cement him in a solid gatekeeper position. Frank Mir on paper is as talented as any heavyweight in MMA. He has solid striking, a brilliant jiu jitsu game by heavyweight standards, but clearly lacks the wrestling to utilize either effectively. He’s unable to keep fights where he needs to against the giant wrestlers of the division, and is unable to get fights to the ground without a powerful strike like the one that set up the guillotine on Cheick Kongo.
Similar to the Diaz brothers, Mir will likely beat up on guys who want to stand and trade with him and then submit them should the fight hit the floor. But ultimately Mir seems to always come up short against strong wrestlers or superior strikers with solid takedown defense.
Most likely Mir will wind up facing the winner of the UFC 121 matchup between Brendan Schaub and Gabriel Gonzaga. Gonzaga, like Mir, is a talented fighter who’s found himself a gatekeeper in an evolving division, and Schaub is an exciting prospect that the UFC has high hopes for. An impressive win over either would move Mir out of the middle of the pack and back up towards the upper tier of the heavyweight class.
Q: Josh Macala, Houston, Texas writes: I've always wanted to know why both Ken Shamrock and Chuck Liddell have had much hyped fights with Tito Ortiz, yet Shamrock and Liddell never fought each other in their primes (or at all)
A: It all comes down to timing and performance. When Ken Shamrock decided to return to mixed martial arts after his tenure in the WWE (at the time WWF), the sport had already passed him by. His first fight with Tito Ortiz only happened because Shamrock was a big name and the two had a marketable grudge. It was one of the few times in UFC history that a fighter had ever received a title shot coming off of a loss, as Shamrock was defeated nine months prior by Don Frye in PRIDE, in another grudge match (Shamrock has always had a knack for those). Most knew ahead of the first Ortiz-Shamrock fight that Ortiz was on a different level.
Chuck Liddell was tearing through the UFC’s light heavyweight division at the time of Shamrock’s obvious decline. At any rate, Shamrock was to Ortiz what Ortiz was to Liddell, an easy victory due to a bad style matchup. Should Liddell have fought Shamrock during his rise in the UFC, the “Iceman” likely would have beaten him into that “living death” that Shamrock enjoyed talking about so much.
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If you read MMATorch regularly, you know our columnist Jason Amadi is a great combination of two things: knowledgeable and opinionated. So he's the perfect person to lead a revival of our "Ask the Torch" feature at MMATorch.
If you have a question on MMA, send it to mmatorch@gmail.com. Jason will sort through questions we receive and answer them on a regular basis here at our website and on our apps.
You can ask the basic of questions about the sport or the rules. You can ask questions about its history or its future. You can ask for his opinion on a particular controversial topic. It's wide open.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
STAFF COLUMNISTS: Shawn Ennis - Jason Amadi
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Interested in joining MMATorch's writing team? Send idea for a theme to your column (for Specialist section) or area of interest (i.e. TV Reporter) along with a sample of writing to mmatorch@gmail.com.
