UFC
Frank Mir on UFC 141: Alistair Overeem's cardio will "suck" after one round of wrestling with Brock Lesnar
Dec 27, 2011 - 2:30:28 PM Frank Mir on UFC 141: Alistair Overeem's cardio will "suck" after one round of wrestling with Brock Lesnar

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Frank Mir has proven himself to be one of the best fighters in the heavyweight division with some excellent performances over the last few years, though he has suffered a couple of brutal losses to some rather large opponents. One of those was Brock Lesnar, who fights this Friday night at UFC 141, and Mir knows first hand the type of wrestling game that Lesnar brings into a fight.

"Brock doesn't shoot that low," Mir said in an interview with ESPN's "MMA Insiders" radio program (via Yahoo! Sports). "He'll put his forehead in your chest, and he's going to run you through. If he's not able to take you down with that initial blast, he's going to run you against the cage. Then he's going to rip your legs out from under you. Now, you should have gotten taken down in the middle of the area, but instead, you've been taken down against the cage [where it is more dangerous]. Speaking from experience, that sucks."

Experiencing Lesnar's strength and technique himself, Mir has plenty of doubts about how Alistair Overeem will be able to deal with that skill set of Lesnar's in Las Vegas this week.

"Now, you have a guy who is not a black belt in jiu-jitsu and who is not a wrestling All-American who is going to be able to get back to his feet, so what does he do?" Mir pondered. "Are you going to try to tell me he's going to wrestle with a national champion wrestler for five minutes? His cardio is going to suck [after wrestling with Lesnar for a while]. I've seen guys with muscles like that, and that's why he slows down."

Penick's Analysis: Will Overeem be able to stop Lesnar from taking him down? And if he can't, will he be able to get back afterward? That's one of the big factors at play in this fight. If Lesnar is able to get Overeem down in the first round and sap his energy with his wrestling game, it will go a very long way in putting the fight in his favor. If Overeem doesn't have the energy to deliver his strikes at full force as the fight wears on, Lesnar will be at a greater advantage, and it will be the key for him winning the fight.

[Frank Mir art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch.com]