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Six months ago, Frank Mir woozily exited the Octagon, his face resembling something that would make a twisted, cannibalistic version of the Hamburglar salivate with hunger. This was the man that was going to answer the prayers of every Tom, Dick, and Harry posting on Sherdog.com by vanquishing mean, stupid, untalented, unworthy Brock Lesnar? Heck, Frank Mir could trump Brock any day of the week in a game of "name that MMA term" with polysyllabic words like gogopolata. But did that really matter when fist repeatedly meets face? Frank could try all he wanted to be the strongest man in the gym; Brock could lift the gym.
Post-UFC 100 interviews indicated that Mir unsurprisingly was lobbying for a best of three series. But who wants to watch a rematch when in the previous two fights, one competitor had the advantage for a total of maybe, lets be generous here, 15 seconds? 1-1 records look even on paper, but in the minds of most fans, a third encounter would largely have been met with ambivalence. Time to move on to bigger and better for Brock and for Mir, a potential one-way ticket down the food chain. Did I mention that Mir's only win subsequent to the first Brock encounter was against a guy who looked like he was doing motion capture for the most recent Resident Evil video game?
And all of that changed in just 72 seconds, in Memphis, Tenn. of all places. Now it's Mir in the driver's seat, with Lesnar sitting on the sidelines, perhaps never to fight again, due to an assortment of maladies, one of which is so hard to pronounce properly, you know it's serious. What a crazy sport this truly is.
So now bring back the UFC 100 Countdown video and all the contrasts and comparisons, watch as Mir has one of his buddies play a dumb, angry version of Brock Lesnar (or in some people's minds, the regular version of Brock Lesnar). Ironically, partial credit must go to Mir's ability to talk and tell a good story as a reason for peaking everyone's interest, an ability that would suit him quite well in the professional wrestling industry. So well, in fact, that noted WWE commentator Jim Ross wrote in his blog that Mir would make an excellent heel (read: bad guy). In the end, how different are Mir and Brock really?
Different enough that this March, in beautiful Newark, New Jersey, one may very well be fighting for the UFC Heavyweight Championship while the other may very well be locked in seclusion on a North Dakota ranch, embarking a slow road to recovery the length of which may still be unknown. Six months ago, Frank Mir woozily exited the Octagon, the blood still damp and fresh on his face, while Brock politely flipped off the crowd and insulted one of UFC's main corporate sponsors, looking damn near close to invincible.
How badly do you want to see Lesnar-Mir III now?
Steve Sutcliffe is best known for his motion-capture role as Kratos in the God of War video games. Send fan mail to steve.w.sutcliffe@gmail.com.
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