• UFC 146

Mir: I'll make Dos Santos a shadow of his usual self

Frank Mir claims it would be foolish to rule out a knockout victory against UFC heavyweight champion Junior Dos Santos this weekend, insisting he is ready to suck the life out of the Brazilian.

Mir, who refers to himself as a two-time heavyweight champion having won the belt against Tim Sylvia and then beaten Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira in an interim championship encounter, is bidding to hold UFC gold for a third time this weekend.

Dos Santos is - Mir readily admits - the "most dangerous striker I've ever had to face" but the American is not concerned. The MMA community is yet to truly see Dos Santos grapple, which just so happens to be Mir's specialty.

If Mir gets things to the mat, he is not even worried about finishing his rival. Explaining that theory, Mir says Dos Santos will tire extremely quickly when he is forced to do what he is not used to doing.

"Stylistically the match-up is great for me. Cheick Kongo, Mirko Cro Cop, strikers who try to stay elusive and move around - I've always fared well against them," Mir said.

"JDS is the most dangerous striker I've ever had to face but it isn't like I've ever had a problem with the strikers I've had to go against. He's always going for home runs… I'm a more rounded player.

"If he keeps the fight standing, he's comfortable. He can go back to his stool for rounds two, three, four and five and feel comfortable. Plus he has the power shot where he can finish it in one punch.

"So I want to put it in his mind that if we go to ground, it's a different fight. Once he goes there and he gets the grappling muscles going, how good is he going to be when he gets back up?

"When strikers go to the mat and grapple for three or four minutes, they tend not to be very good strikers when they get back up."

Summing up the importance of a victory, Mir hints that a win on Saturday would make him the greatest heavyweight of all time.

"A win over JDS makes me a three-time heavyweight champion. I have more wins in the division than anyone else, there's all these things I'm trying to add to the legacy."

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