It’s been 13 years since Frank Mir and Brock Lesnar had their highly anticipated rematch in the main event of UFC 100.
Mir had a long and successful career after Lesnar. However, his former rival was only able to fight three more times before he returned to the WWE’s squared circle. Having not fought since a four-fight skid halting unanimous decision victory in his 2019 Roy Nelson rematch, Mir has been training his daughter, Bella, and also playing with the idea of becoming a pro wrestler himself.
As seen already with Cain Velasquez, the WWE isn’t shy to jump on real fight-like opportunities involving stars such as Lesnar. For the 43-year-old Mir, however, nothing ever came nearly as close as it did for Velasquez who at least enjoyed a very brief stint in the sports entertainment world.
“I wanted to put myself in a position by going out there and being successful at it, but it was one of those things where it wasn’t even in the talks,” Mir said on Insight with Chris Van Vliet regarding a Lesnar trilogy spectacle in pro wrestling.
“I would be game [for a third MMA fight]. No [it was never close to happening]. Not on his radar, I guess. It wasn’t on his radar, but he didn’t want to. He’ll make more calls if he is the A-side. According to what I heard, Lesnar felt I was off because of my response after the second fight. Lesnar may have thought, “How could you fight me again?” I don’t [want to see it], people so it’s not [me]. This is what made Lesnar feel uneasy .”
Only competing nine times as a mixed martial artist, Lesnar won just one fight after his second-round TKO of Mir at UFC 100. Retiring in early 2012 after back-to-back losses to the aforementioned Velasquez, and Alistair Overeem, Lesnar eventually returned for a controversial one-off against Mark Hunt at UFC 200. Lesnar originally defeated the “Super Samoan” via unanimous decision before the result was overturned to a no-contest after he tested positive for clomiphene.
Lesnar, 45, has since remained a mainstay atop the WWE roster — when it best suits him, anyway. Meanwhile, Mir’s most recent combat appearances came this past year in boxing matches where he suffered losses to Steve Cunningham and Kubrat Pulev.
Mir continues to heal from the atrophied right side of his neck, which was caused by a recent neck injection. His athletic future is still uncertain.
” I don’t know anything about Lesnar’s pro wrestling. I also don’t see it that often, so I don’t have the time to watch. [promos],” Mir stated of Lesnar. “But I think he’s definitely a guy, from what I understand and talking to other people in the industry, he does the bare minimum of what he has to do to cash a check and I don’t fault him for that. We all gotta make money and I think he’s more naturally a fighter than he is a pro wrestler and so I think it’s not his first love but financially it pays better and obviously, he can continue to do it for a lot longer.”
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The MMA Hour.
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SOCIAL MEDIA BOUILLABAISSE
Indeed.
Emily Ducote fight week#UFCLongIsland
pic.twitter.com/OVyMsVpy0W— Alex Behunin (@AlexBehunin) July 11, 2022
Nate.
— Nathan Diaz (@NateDiaz209) July 11, 2022
Uh-oh.
“Jan is for me the biggest challenge” – your words.
Respect you Champ, but the samurai code was not upheld.— Jan Blachowicz (@JanBlachowicz) July 11, 2022
Wild times.
#OnThisDay in 2015, @TheNotoriousMMA captured UFC gold for the first time pic.twitter.com/gBZLu2WAHY
— UFC (@ufc) July 11, 2022
Hmm.
Which @PFLMMA fighters who did NOT make the playoffs would you like to see in special showcase fight during our season ending PFL World Championship?
— Donn Davis (@DonnDavisPFL) July 11, 2022
History.
The stacked UFC 100 card happened 13 years ago today. Is it still the best PPV card in UFC history? pic.twitter.com/zAyGvPDgSH
— ESPN MMA (@espnmma) July 11, 2022
What a Ham.
Birthday.
Soon.
12 days UFC LONDON! pic.twitter.com/tx7cVZ8PK4
— Muhammad Mokaev (@muhammadmokaev) July 11, 2022
Art.
— Khamzat Chimaev (@KChimaev) July 11, 2022
Unimpressed.
You are a flop, kid. You are a nobody.
— Conor McGregor (@TheNotoriousMMA) July 11, 2022
A bigger fight.
Solid.
Jamie Foxx doing an impression of Floyd Mayweather in front of the man himself today…
[ ️ @FloydMayweather] pic.twitter.com/X8XjJjepbW
— Michael Benson (@MichaelBensonn) July 11, 2022
Big yikes.
Uncle @danawhite just gave me $250,000 for my birthday.. pic.twitter.com/noH34JF8zY
— KYLE (@KyleForgeard) July 12, 2022
FIGHT ANNOUNCEMENTS
Nate Landwehr (15-4) vs. Zubaira Tukhugov (20-5-1); UFC Vegas 59, Aug. 6
FINAL THOUGHTS
If Brock would have stuck around for longer than he did, that trilogy 1000 percent would have happened.
Thanks for reading!
POLL POSITION
Last Week’s Results:
Friday: 79% of 446 total votes answered “No” when asked, “Will Sean Strickland ever fight for a UFC title?” Strickland lost to Alex Pereira via first-round knockout at UFC 276.
Tuesday: 59% of 639 total votes answered “Rafael Fiziev” when asked, “Who wins this weekend?” Fiziev defeated Rafael dos Anjos via fifth-round TKO in the UFC Vegas 58 main event.
Today’s exit poll :
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