Frank Mir Thinks He’s Heading Into ‘Do Or Die’ Bout With Bigfoot Silva At UFC 184

Despite many calling for his retirement, UFC heavyweight Frank Mir isn’t ready to close the curtain on his storied career just yet. The former champion will step back into the octagon for the first time since February’s UFC 169 when he takes on Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC 184 from Los Angeles.

Win or lose, Mir knows that his time in the sport is winding down. Appearing on yesterday’s The MMA Hour, Mir said that, with four straight losses against some of the best heavyweights in the world, he considered retiring after Overeem outstruck him 139-5 at UFC 169:

“I did (think about retirement). If I wasn’t able to have a proper off season and see what I could get my body level of fitness up to, then I would have considered it.

Just because at that point, I don’t want to go in there and have a bad performance and keep getting worse and worse. It wastes people money and at the same time, it just waste time for my family. If you can’t perform at a high level or at least at an optimal level, then it’s time to call it.”

Mir is wise to know when his time may be up in terms of elite MMA competition, and at 35 years old, he really has nothing left to prove. He already owns the UFC records for most wins in heavyweight history with 24, most fights with 23, most submissions with 8, an is tied with Gabriel Gonzaga for most finishes with 11.

Mir has fought and defeated four different UFC champions, and he’s recently loss to the next generation of elite talent like Junior dos Santos, Daniel Cormier, and Josh Barnett.

Given his recent track record, Mir knows that all of his fights are make-or-break affairs. Because of that he believes he’ll have to make an impact against Silva:

“I think they all are (do or die). Yeah, I think I have to come out with a very significant performance.”

After his brutal knockout loss to Andrei Arlovski at September’s UFC Fight Night 51, “Bigfoot” will be desperate for a win himself. Can Mir shake off the cobwebs and avoid losing five straight?

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