Frank Mir: Brock Lesnar Will Lose To Mark Hunt At UFC 200
Combat sports mega-star Brock Lesnar made his UFC debut at UFC 81 back in 2008 against former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, who managed to submit Lesnar via kneebar after eating some nasty ground-and-pound from ‘The Beast”.
Lesnar would go on to win his next two bouts that same year, however, capturing the UFC heavyweight title from Randy Couture at UFC 91 in the process. Mir would then challenge Lesnar for the title in the main event of the spectacle that was UFC 100, with the two men being granted the honor of main eventing the legendary card.
The night would end with a successful Lesnar title defense, after the former Division I heavyweight wrestling champion demolished Mir on the ground with his vicious ground-and-pound. With the two men now each holding a win over one another, is it possible they could meet inside the Octagon once more for a rubber match?
Mir spoke on this subject and many more in his most recent Phone Booth Fighting Podcast, beginning with a claim stating that the former champion (Lesnar) doesn’t like being hit and could be in for a rough night against a hitter the caliber of Mark Hunt:
“He doesn’t like to be hit,” Mir said. “Not that anybody likes to be hit, but Brock for whatever reason has shown much more of a dramatic response to the negativity of those shots.
To the point where he’s not asleep, it isn’t like he got knocked out, he’s not getting dropped, but he just turns his face away from adversity. That’s a bad thing when fighting Mark Hunt, who again I think is one of the hardest punchers in the division.”
Mir did say, however, that Lesnar’s path to victory could lie with his heavy ground game, tiring out the heavy hitting Australian:
“If he is able to take Hunt down and control him, Hunt has been known to get tired on the ground and get fatigued,” Mir said. … “It really comes down to who is able to get their game plan.”
The rubber match between the two rivals was then mentioned, as Mir claimed that a huge payday would be made available to both men if it was to come to fruition:
“I think that’s he’s a competitive guy,” Mir said. “If he’s going to step in the Octagon, he’s gonna want to get paid as much as he can for that appearance. I mean, he’s closing in on 40. So why not a fight with me?
A fight with me is going to be a much bigger payday, the two of us together is going to make much more of an impact than him versus anybody else. The storyline just isn’t going to be the same. The interest is not gonna be the same.”
“I think even two years from now when I come out of the suspension, a fight with Lesnar is still — if he still wants to come back again — is still a huge fight,” Mir said.
“It’s massive because of what he brings to the table, what I bring to the table and the history we have together.”
If Mir had to bet on the UFC 200 heavyweight co-main event, his money is on Hunt claiming Lesnar would have a difficult time trying to take down the vicious knockout artist:
“I’m betting on Mark,” Mir said. “He’s been in there more consistently the last couple of years against really game opponents. I think that once their strengths match up against each other, it’s a hard takedown. You’ve never really seen anybody come through and just blast Mark onto his butt in the first minute or two of a match.”
Lesnar and Hunt will throw down in the co-headliner of UFC 200, which is set to go down live on pay-per-view (PPV) from the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on Saturday July 9, 2016.
(All transcribed quotes courtesy of MMA Fighting)
