Aside from a possible third fight with Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira, Frank Mir eyes a potential trilogy fight with Brock Lesnar, who, once again, is speculated to return to the octagon. Both of the former Heavyweight champions have one win against each other and they could settle their score in a third fight. In an interview to Combate.com, Mir praised “Minotauro” and offered himself to “welcome” Lesnar back.
“If think that his come back would be good for MMA. He’s still popular, people know who he is and he brings attention. We are tied with one win each. I would enjoy a rubber match. I would like to welcome him back to the UFC.”
According to Mir, his rivalry with Big Nog is different from the one that he has with Lesnar.
“Nogueira and I are very competitive but I have nothing against him outside the octagon. I like him as a person, so, sometimes, it’s hard to the fans understand. However, when we face each other, I always want to win. People think that you always have to talk about your rival. It’s the case with Lesnar because I don’t like him as a person.”
The heavyweight also expressed his feelings about “Minotauro”.
“He has a tremendous career, he’s a legend of our sport, he has a champion’s heart and was the number 1 guy for a period at PRIDE FC. He has been around for a lot of time and I think that his injuries harmed his career. I don’t think that he’s old but I believe that he’s fighting tough guys. My second fight against him is my favorite. I was very close of losing and was able to overcome the adversity and win.”
Mir explained how he felt about breaking Nogueira’s arm.
“I started to pressure and he was very flexible. I started to look in referee’s direction waiting him to stop the fight, so I wouldn’t need to keep pressure. I don’t think that I was slow enough but his arm was strange. At the moment, I thought that I had dislocated his arm, not broken. When I arrived at my home, my wife’s friends had recorded the fight and we watched together. I stopped when Nogueira’s arm popped, I couldn’t watch. They asked me why and I answered: ‘I remember differently. He was punching my face at that time. Watching it from my couch isn’t nice.'”
Unlike his series with Lesnar, Mir won both of the fights that he had with Big Nog: by KO at UFC 92: The Ultimate 2008 and by submission at UFC 140.