Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir ponders retirement ahead of Alistair Overeem fight
Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is usually too cocksure to even publicly consider a fight not going his way but on Monday he broached the topic of the big ‘R’ – Retirement. Mir has lost three straight fights and is next scheduled to fight Alistair Overeem at UFC 169 in February on Super Bowl weekend.
Mir told MMAFighting on Monday that though he has not really considered retirement before, if he were to get cut by the UFC after a fourth straight loss, he might very well end up retired.
"Obviously I have no real desire to fight for another organization, so if I were to be let go that would be a huge step in the form of retirement," the 12-year veteran said.
UFC President Dana White has said that the heavyweight clash between Mir and Overeem is a do-or-die situation for both men. Mir didn’t make predictions but seemed dubious that the loser will be released by the UFC.
"As far as the UFC wanted to release us, I’ve heard the same thing that Dana [White] said absolutely, I find it hard to believe that they’re going to let Alistair to be picked up by another organization," Mir argued. "I still think he could sell a ton of tickets. Myself? I keep my opinion to myself on me. I guess I would have to see what I’m selling afterwards."
Even though Mir now has a new matchup to look forward to, he is still smarting from his recent loss to Josh Barnett at UFC 164. Barnett attacked Mir early and managed to hurt the former champion with a knee, prompting the referee to call a halt to the action.
As he did then, Mir still strongly objects to the stoppage and maintains that he should have been allowed to continue fighting.
"The ruling kind of goes [that a ref stops the fight] if you can’t defend yourself intelligently. I was never even given the opportunity to defend myself intelligently, because there was no follow-up strikes," Mir said.
"Had [Barnett] been throwing even mild shots and teeing off on me, I think that the argument of, well, you know, you were protecting yourself -- you can’t even make an argument that I was able to defend myself intelligently because there was no attack. The referee never gave it enough time for Barnett to do the next maneuver. I think that in itself says it was stopped too soon."
What do you think about the ref calling it in Mir vs. Barnett and who do you think will come out on top when Overeem and the dangerous jiu -jitsu specialist clash Feb. 1 at UFC 169?
