This is it folks. The fight we've been waiting for, that was supposed to happen two months ago. It's for all the marbles, and by the end of the night we'll have an undisputed heavyweight champion...finally.
Brock is coming in off a huge victory in which he decimated Randy Couture. There is still a lot that is yet to be answered about Brock's game. We still really don't know if his submission defense has been bolstered, because the only submission attempt we've seen on him in his last two fights was Randy attempting to swing around the clinch and grab his back.(Which he defended beautifully) His stand up is not technical yet by any means, but it's dangerous nonetheless. He shattered Herring's orbital bone with his first punch as well as his knockdown of Couture that led to the ground and pound victory. People question his cardio, but at the same time if you watch the end of any of his fights, he doesn't seem winded. Even in the Frank Mir fight when he was going all out, Mir seemed to be more gassed than he was. We won't get into the refereeing from the first bout between the two. He needs to use his reach in the stand up and try to land effective shots, the same way he did it against Couture. If he takes it to the ground, he'll need to stay in a close guard, postured up, or try and work ground and pound from half guard. His ground game is very technical when it comes to transitioning as we've seen, and he's incredibly fast. He'll need to overcome his overanxious tendencies on the ground and work like he did against Herring.
Frank Mir is the only man to ever stop Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and already holds a submission win over Brock Lesnar. Frank Mir is somewhat of a miracle man after his motorcycle accident almost led him to retire. To me, he's the fifth best heavyweights jiu-jitsu player in mixed martial arts, behind only Roger Gracie, Fabricio Werdum, Gabriel Gonzaga, and Nogueira. He's been falling in love with his boxing, and there is word that it's gotten even crisper since his dismantling of Nogueira. The problem is I don't know if he's going to want to try and box with Brock. Though he may be more technical on the feet, he doesn't hold the power that Brock does. He's going to need to look for a takedown, which we saw is possible when Couture clinched with Brock and dragged him down. If he can somehow get in a dominant position or even work an active guard he has a good chance of pulling off another submission.
The fight starts off with them standing and trading, and ends that way. I'm not sure that Brock is confident enough right now to take Mir to the ground and work strikes, and he'll be able to use his wrestling in reverse to keep the smaller Frank Mir from taking him down. I see them clinching against the cage some in the first and second round, but ultimately it comes down to the fact that Brock's punching power is too devastating for Frank Mir, who has been knocked out in the past by smaller guys in Ian Freeman and Brandon Vera, not to mention his TKO loss to Marcio Cruz. I see Brock landing a power shot and being smart when he goes in to finish it with his patented piston-fist ground and pound. Look for him to get his hand raised unifying the belts on Saturday night, and establishing himself as a top three heavyweight.
Result: Brock Lesnar by second round (T)KO
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