Many fans of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir thought the referee stopped the fight with Mark Hunt too early. After Hunt landed a devastating strike to Mir’s head that sent him to the canvas at UFC Fight Night 85, Mir spoke on the Phone Booth Fighting podcast about how he was feeling when the fight was called to an end (transcribed by MMA Fighting).

“Yes, it was a good stoppage,” Mir said. “My lights were on, but I had no bearings on where anything was coming from. So the effectiveness of me being able to defend myself was very low at that point.”

“It shows you show disorientated I was by the shot — the guy fully dressed was the one who caught my attention,” Mir said. … “It could have been bad [if the fight continued]. I see the reason for stopping it. At that point, intelligently defending myself, it would have been a scramble to find out where Mark was coming from.”

Mir says that after all his years and big heavyweight fighters he has faced, there was something different about Hunt.

“By far the hardest punch I’ve ever received in my career,” Mir said. “Immediately, I felt like I was under water. The lights were on, but for a good 10 to 15 seconds the room spun.”

Mir has stated that the loss to Hunt is not swaying him in the direction of retirement and simply wants to continue to train and become a better martial artist.

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