UFC 141: Frank Mir Says That Brock Lesnar Will 'Easily' Defeat Alistair Overeem

[WrestlingSmarks News]

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has had two memorable battles with Brock Lesnar and has always been open and honest about his dislike for him, at least until now. But Mir is also known as a guy that understands the sport pretty well, and when asked by ESPN's Brett Okamoto about Lesnar's fight with Alistair Overeem at UFC 141, he had some surprising things to say:

"Honestly, I think Brock will win pretty easily," Mir told ESPN.com.

"I think we’re going to see the closest thing to a grappler versus striker match you’ll see nowadays. Brock is going to cover up; maybe throw one jab. He’ll rush Overeem to the cage, reach down for a leg and rip him down."

...

"I don’t think he’s going to get off his back," Mir said. "I’d be very shocked -- I’d applaud Overeem if he got off his back."

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He also states that his dislike for Lesnar has faded away, and a lot of it was just fight promotion anyway:

"Time heals all wounds," Mir said.

"And in reality, I played that up because at that time in my life I thought being loud and saying those things would be good marketing for a third fight. In the last couple years I’ve realized, if people are going to dislike me, I want it to be because of my personality and not because of something I did for marketing a fight."

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I'm not exactly on board with Mir on this one. Taking down Alistair is a little harder than Mir's making it sound, and the threat of a big knee or a guillotine while shooting (both of which are Overeem specialties) adds some complexity to the situation. Pushing Overeem around isn't going to be that easy.

Mir will step next into the cage at UFC 140 to rematch Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in December.

More SBN coverage of UFC 141