‘Bigfoot’ Is Ready To Go Five Rounds On The Ground
UFC heavyweight Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva returns to action tomorrow night (Sunday February 22nd, 2015) as he takes on renowned grappler and former champion of the division Frank Mir. Both men are without wins in their last three outings, four for Mir in fact, and headline UFC Fight Night 61 in Silva’s back yard.
We assume that Mir wants the fight on the mat, and “Bigfoot” wants to use his striking arsenal to get the win. Perhaps wrongly according to Silva himself, who tells FOX Sports that he is prepared to go all five rounds in a grappling match with the BJJ wizard:
“I’m going to fight Frank as if this is a title fight and he was the No. 1-ranked fighter. That’s the way I will fight him,”
“A fight’s a fight. You never know where it could go, but I’m very comfortable on the ground,” Silva said. “”I’ve fought a lot of great jiu-jitsu names, I fought Fabricio Werdum, and I’ve never been submitted. So if I have to fight five rounds on the ground, I’ll fight five rounds on the ground.”
Indeed, “Bigfoot” has never tapped in competition, but neither had legendary Jiu Jitsu fighter Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira before he faced Mir. The ex-heavyweight boss snapped Nogueira’s arm in a brutal display of BJJ wizardry at UFC 140. That was Mir’s last win as a professional.
Alistair Overeem, Josh Barnett, Junior Dos Santos and Daniel Cormier have all beaten Mir rather handily, which makes his booking against Silva all the more pivotal. A loss would be devastating for his career hopes, but yet another knockout loss will likely have fans calling for Mir’s retirement.
Will Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva send Frank Mir in to retirement, or will the legendary submission artist claim another limb?
