UFC
UFC 146's Frank Mir not up to fighting in Brazil after breaking Antonio Nogueira's arm
Mar 26, 2012 - 8:45:46 PM UFC 146's Frank Mir not up to fighting in Brazil after breaking Antonio Nogueira's arm

DISCUSS ALL THIS IN OUR NEW MMATORCH FORUM

...OH, ONE MORE THING - PLEASE BOOKMARK US & VISIT DAILY!

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

Frank Mir will square off against Cain Velasquez this May in a number one contender bout at UFC 146. Prior to that booking, there was at least one other potential opponent being talked about for Mir, at least one name that was brought up to him in public.

That was Fabricio Werdum, who returned to the UFC in February with a win over Roy Nelson. Mir wasn't too keen on that matchup for this summer, and Werdum will instead face Mike Russow on the same UFC 146 event. In a new interview with Crave Online, Mir explained why he wasn't interested in that matchup in June.

"Werdum is a greatly improved fighter with phenomenal stand-up and I think his jiu-jitsu is some of the best in the world," Mir began (transcribed by MMAMania.com). "The guy is awesome. The only reason why I at first said, 'hmmm, maybe not a good idea' [was] when I found out he wanted to fight in June in Brazil. I was like, 'Ah, I don't know if that would be such a great idea, I don't know if I'm gonna be that well received there.'"

Mir's hesitation to take a fight in Brazil stems from his vicious win over Rio de Janeiro's own Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December, where he broke "Minotauro's" arm with a kimura after nearly getting knocked out. Mir says he's already gotten several emails from fans about the hold, and he's not sure how safe things would be there for him.

"I'd have to go there for a whole week with my family, my wife and my children," he said. "I don't think I'm in [Chael Sonnen's] boat yet, but at the same time if I go to a restaurant and someone is a Nogueira fan, what are they gonna do to my food? Brazilian fans, fans in general, can be kinda crazy and I've received quite a few crazy Emails. Google translate is a phenomenal thing but it kind of makes you cringe a little bit when you see what people wanna say."

Penick's Analysis: I don't know how serious Mir is about this "concern", and maybe he's just paranoid, but much like Chael Sonnen likely doesn't have anything real to fear from fighting Anderson Silva in Brazil, I don't think Mir would have any issues either. Beating Nogueira twice the way he did in each probably doesn't endear him to too many fans, but it's not like he's done much else to draw the ire of the crazy masses. Regardless, he's in a much better fight for himself against Velasquez as opposed to a fight with Werdum.

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