Frank Mir is not a man who lives with regrets.
During his first reign as UFC champion several years ago, Mir was always considered the No. 2 heavyweight in the world because he couldn’t face the PRIDE FC heavyweight champion.
While it bothered him that he always had to be viewed as No. 2, Mir also knew there wasn’t much that could be done about it at the time. Years later, Mir defeated former PRIDE heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira on two separate occasions. This weekend, Mir will look to add another legend to his resume when he faces Fedor Emelianenko in the main event at Bellator 198 in Chicago.
This will actually be Mir’s Bellator debut and the first time he’s fought in an organization other than the UFC for more than 15 years.
During his tenure competing inside the Octagon, Mir established himself as one of the greatest heavyweights the promotion ever produced while also engaging in several marquee matchups over the years — none bigger than his pair of fights against current WWE superstar Brock Lesnar.
In fact until just recently, Mir and Lesnar’s rematch at UFC 100 held the all time record for pay-per-view buys for the promotion.
The career series between them still stands at one win a piece but Mir is now a Bellator fighter and while all signs are pointing towards Lesnar fighting again one day soon, his only home will be inside the UFC Octagon.
That said, Mir isn’t giving up hope that he could stare across the cage at Lesnar one more time before each of them call it a career.
“We’ll see. I still don’t count it out,” Mir told MMAWeekly on Monday. “Brock likes money and I don’t think there’s anybody he could get more pay-per-view buys on than facing me. I feel that fight will still work itself out because of what the financial ramifications are, it just makes sense.”
Now that might seem hard to believe considering where Mir is fighting right now compared to Lesnar, but the former UFC heavyweight champion feels like when there’s as much money to be made as what would be on the table for a trilogy like that, nothing is impossible.
In fact, Mir points directly at his bout against Emelianenko this weekend as proof of a fight that no one seemed to think could happen a decade ago. Now they are just days away from stepping into the cage together.
“Absolutely [it can happen],” Mir said about a third fight against Lesnar. “I would like to make sure it occurs. Just be patient. I mean who would have thought I would eventually be able to face Fedor.”
