Frank Mir and Alistair Overeem are not in a good place in their UFC careers. Mir has lost his last three and ‘The Reem’ is 1-2 in three Octagon fights. Those kind of records lend themselves to a pink slip when another loss is added to them
Both guys are big names, former champions and great fighters, but from the sounds of the noises Dana White was making on Monday all of that might be enough to save them. Reporters asked the UFC president whether the loser of their heavyweight featured fight on Saturday at UFC 169 would be cut. Though he did not commit to an answer, his words were fairly definitive as far as I can make out:
“It appears that way,” he said. “I don’t ever like to make those calls until I see the fight. What if that fight’s a [Mark] Hunt vs. [Antonio] ‘Bigfoot’ Silva fight?”
Of course, Uncle Dana is referring to the kind of five-round war/bloodbath that got fans out of their seats in December. Is this a likely scenario this weekend? Probably not?
If you look at the way each man fights, neither one is the kind of man to go life and death in a fight, persevering through near-insurmountable adversity to pull of a career defining victory.Overeem has only been to the third round four times in his 50 career MMA fights and 10 of his last 11 losses have come via stoppage. Eight were knockouts. Mir has only been into the third frame three times in 24 fights and he has been knocked out in seven of his eight defeats.
These are not statistics that suggest an ability to stand up to big punishment. Unfortunately for both men, their opponent this weekend could be considered to being compared to a behemoth who hits very, very hard. Even if the outcome is not a KO, the smart money would be on a Mir submission. One of these men is odds-on to fall either way.
Both fighters need to win badly, because a career defining performance in a losing effort is unlikely. A highlight-reel stoppage is a far more realistic outcome. Add in enormous salaries that the UFC would probably be happy to do away with and a sketchy history with post-fight drug testing in Overeem’s case into consideration and and my money is on one of these men facing unemployment on Sunday morning.
