Frank Mir’s biggest career rival? I think if you asked the former two-time heavyweight champion, he would emphatically say Brock Lesnar.
Mir and Lesnar crossed paths twice, once in Lesnar’s UFC debut where Mir was victorious and another to unify the belts the two men held.
Lesnar won the second bout.
In a recent interview with the NY Post, Mir touched on the fast demise of his former foe:
“Honestly, I think the guy got so ill, he just couldn’t do it anymore,”said Mir. “He had to leave or his quality of life wouldn’t have been normal.”
“We didn’t get to see the Brock I fought. Had he not been ill, things would have been different.”
UFC president Dana White said in January that last year he tried pulling Lesnar back for a massive fight with legendary heavyweight Fedor Emelianenko that would have headlined a card at Cowboys Stadium. But Emelianenko’s father died during negotiations and he decided not to go through with it. White said that Lesnar then conceded “I’m done, too.