Age is making Mir nervous, not Emelianenko
ROSEMONT, Ill. – Despite a glut of experience in the fight game and credentials as a former champion, Frank Mir says he’ll head into his next fight with some nerves.
Mir (18-11 mixed martial arts, 0-0 Bellator MMA) on Saturday returns to work after a layoff of more than two years when he meets legendary Russian heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko (36-5, 0-1) in the Bellator 198 main event (Paramount, 9 p.m. ET) at Allstate Arena outside Chicago. Their fight is part of the first round of Bellator’s heavyweight tournament. The winner moves on to a fight with Chael Sonnen in the semifinals and will be one step from fighting for the vacant heavyweight title.
The nerves, he says, won’t be from being on the sideline so long — the result of a two-year suspension for a drug test that came up positive for a banned steroid after his final fight in a 27-bout run for the UFC. And the nerves won’t be because he’s fighting Emelianenko, considered an all-time great and an opponent fans wanted to see him take on more than a dozen years ago. Instead, it’s all about age for Mir, 38. “This is the thing all fighters my age are going to have to deal with: one bad performance,” Mir told USA TODAY. “I can go smash Fedor. I can smash Chael and look like the best version I’ve ever presented. And let’s say I fight (Matt) Mitrione in the finals — (Ryan) Bader, (Muhammed Lawal), whoever — and I go out there and have a bad performance, the very first conversation when I walk out of that cage will be, ‘Are you going to retire?’
“They were talking about retirement when I was 28. I can’t imagine when I’m 38 what they’re going to say. That’s the part that’s been apprehensive — another fighter can have an off night, but if you’re an older fighter and you have an off night, all of a sudden the fat lady’s standing up getting ready to belt one out for you, ‘You should retire.’ ”
Mir is a slight betting favorite against Emelianenko, despite the long layoff. But the past six years have been a rough stretch for him. The onetime UFC champion and interim champ dropped six of his final eight fights in the promotion, though five of the setbacks came to former or current champions.
His fight with Emelianenko is against another ex-champion.
“The Last Emperor” ruled over the now-defunct PRIDE organization for nearly a decade and a 27-fight winning streak. When he was PRIDE champion and Mir had the UFC title, fans wondered what would happen if the two fought. That talk picked back up when the Russian briefly negotiated with the UFC a decade ago.
But it took the two coming to Bellator, and the heavyweight tournament, to make it happen.
“The reason this fight didn’t happen is they were fighting for two different organizations at that time and there was no co-promotion,” Bellator President Scott Coker said. “This fight would’ve been great (then), but I think it’s going to be even greater (now). I think both of these guys are at the point in their career where this is a must-win. This has title implications moving forward in the grand prix tournament, and I’m really excited to see it.”