How do these two stack up?
Mir: 32 years old | 6'3" | 79" reach
Nelson: 34 years old | 6'0" | 73" reach
What have these two done recently?
Mir: W - Mirko CroCop (TKO) | L - Shane Carwin (TKO) | W - Cheick Kongo (TKO)
Nelson: L - Junior dos Santos (UD) | W - Stefan Struve (TKO) | W - Brendan Schaub (TKO)
How did these two get here?
Frank Mir was, for a brief time, the top UFC Heavyweight of the pre-Ultimate Fighter era. In just his 9th pro fight, he won the UFC Heavyweight title, breaking Tim Sylvia's arm in the process. A career threatening motorcycle accident cost him the belt and kept him sidelined for nearly two years. When he returned in 2006 he looked like he was done, but in 2008 he made a miraculous comeback, defeating both Brock Lesnar, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira to claim the Interim UFC Heavyweight title. He lost that belt to Lesnar at UFC 100, and has gone 2-1 since then.
Roy Nelson first rose to some prominence in the now defunct IFL, where he was the league's inaugural Heavyweight champion. When IFL closed its doors in 2008, Nelson was picked up by EliteXC. He fought on their final show, losing to Andrei Arlovski. When EliteXC also shut down, Nelson seemed like a good acquisition for the UFC, but instead of immediately adding him to their roster, he was signed as part of The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights. There, he defeated Kimbo Slice and Brendan Schaub among others to become the TUF champion. He's made the most of the opportunity, putting together a 2-1 UFC record and quickly rising up the Heavyweight ranks.
Why should you care?
With Brock out for the time being, the winner here becomes the clear-cut #4 in the UFC Heavyweight pecking order. Expect the winner's next fight to be against one of the Cain/Carwin/dos Santos big three.
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