Andrei Arlovski vs. Frank Mir targeted for UFC 191

[Wild]

A decade ago, when the UFC was struggling to keep pace with the heavyweight renaissance emanating out of Japan, a fight between Andrei Arlovski andFrank Mir was one of the best pairings the promotion could've put on.

And somehow, all these years later, it remains just as relevant.

A match-up between the two resurgent legends is being targeted for UFC 191, MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani reported Wednesday on UFC Tonight. The fight has yet to be finalized at the time of this writing.

Arlovski and Mir have both seemingly defied Father Time, revamping their games to mount simultaneous title runs at the age of 36.

While Mir's recent success is surprising, the streak Arlovski (24-10, 1 NC) is currently on may be one of the most unexpected in the history of the division.

The former UFC heavyweight champion was effectively left for dead back in 2011, having suffered four straight losses, three of which ended in grisly knockouts. Calls for his retirement were abundant at the time, but Arlovski persevered to win six of his next eight wins and earn a second shot in the UFC.

It's there he truly blossomed, ripping off another three consecutive victories highlighted by back-to-back first-round knockouts over Antonio Silva and Travis Browne. The latter win came in one of the wildest fights of the year and propelled Arlovski into a No. 4 ranking, inching him to the precipice of title contention.

To get another shot at gold though, he'll likely have to defeat Mir (18-9), a fellow former UFC heavyweight champion who suddenly finds himself riding a wave of momentum after spurning calls for retirement.

LINK: Andrei Arlovski vs. Frank Mir targeted for UFC 191 - MMA Fighting

 

[Team Bisping]

Not a fan of this match up, guess it was too optimistic of me to see Arlovski fight for the belt again....but all will be forgiven if Fedor vs Werdum happens.

 

[La Paix]

Not excited. AA has great momentum on his side and a win over Frank will likely do nothing for him in pursuit for gold.

 

[MMAHAWK]

Not excited. AA has great momentum on his side and a win over Frank will likely do nothing for him in pursuit for gold.

I agree they should do AA vs Crocop if it's going to be a meaningless fight.

 

[Kinosis]

Where did this fight come from? Werdum wants a vacation, they should have made Miocic vs Arlovski for the next shot. Mir shouldn't even be close to a title shot, though I have always wanted to see Mir vs Werdum (and any combo of Mir/Big Nog/Barnett/Werdum).

 

[Wild]

This fight makes absolutely no sense to me, but not many match-ups Zuffa makes do. Why aren't they doing JDS vs Werdum, and Stipe vs Avloski for the next #1 contender? Because the HW division is thin as gas station toilet paper, that's why. They can't afford for contenders to knock one another off.

 

[sparkuri]

I happen to like this fight.
Both fighters have held titles, played around contention for a decade+, put on crazy exciting recent fights, and somehow never faced each other.
If Arlovski loses, he can finally fight Cro Cop.
I don't care about "sense" in the UFC.

 

[nni]

I would prefer if AA got the title shot. But if that isn't happening, then a warm-up fight like this one is alright by me. AA by movement and picking his shots against a stationary, wild-swingin' Mir.

 

[teamquestnorth]

If Mir comes out like he did against Duffee, AA will murder him.

 

[SongExotic2]

I happen to like this fight.
Both fighters have held titles, played around contention for a decade+, put on crazy exciting recent fights, and somehow never faced each other.
If Arlovski loses, he can finally fight Cro Cop.
I don't care about "sense" in the UFC.

Agreed.

The ufc is a league of rematch. I look at this as a fan saying "fuck the stupid rankings" and it's a great fight.


And that's what I wanna see.

Plus I bet the winner gets a shot

 

[Zeph]

Mir vs Arlovski is a great fight. Frank Mir is ranked at 10, Arlovski at 4 on the UFC rankings. That isn't that bad.

 

[JoshuaJMFN]

Not excited. AA has great momentum on his side and a win over Frank will likely do nothing for him in pursuit for gold.

You thought he had another shot at the belt? This fight would have been great 10 years ago. I still think it will be exciting to watch. Doesn't get out of the first round.

 

[Splinty]

You thought he had another shot at the belt? This fight would have been great 10 years ago. I still think it will be exciting to watch. Doesn't get out of the first round.

I have personally suspended belief since I've seen the reinvention of Robbie Lawler...Lawler as UFC champ with title defenses!
Werdum as a dominate improved HW champ.

Who the heck knows at this point.

Arlovski is coming in favorite on a 5 win street, winning 9 of last 11 fights with his awkward NC over Sylvia that would be fine now.
He's been doing all that since 2011. 4 years since his string of KO losses that had us all questioning his chin.

What's Werdum done since AA beat him in 2007? Tightened up his striking and became champ via beating this guantlet:

Cain Velasquez
Mark Hunt
Travis Browne
Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira
Mike Russow
Roy Nelson

Could AA beat most of those guys at this point? I'd say yes.
And he's a year younger than the current champ.


So war AA! Lets get weird in 2015!

 

[dacofty]

id love to see Mir get in a little better shape and continue his winning streak

 

[Pitbull9]

Another KO victory for AA!!!! His boxing is way to crisp for Mir and his sub game is good too.

 

[La Paix]

You thought he had another shot at the belt? This fight would have been great 10 years ago. I still think it will be exciting to watch. Doesn't get out of the first round.

This fight has potential to be exciting for sure but I just feel it's an odd choice. Here's the current UFC HW picture.

Why do #4 vs #10? Especially with the great momentum Andre has now why would they not match him with #7 Ben or higher? I'm not sure who's already matched up right now but I just don't see the reasoning yet.

As far as a title shot yes I do. If AA fought Werdum next I see Werdum beating him but I'd like to see one more fight from Pitbull just to see what happens. There's been some great resurgence stories lately, guys like Hunt, Robbie, Werdum and AJ so I'm not wanting to write guys off because you never know. And I fully agree ten years ago this fight would've been great.

Welcome to the forums!

 

[Psychotropic Wanderlust]

this is a fight I have wanted to see for close to a decade...so ya. I am fucking pumped for it.

 

[HernanCortes]

id love to see Mir get in a little better shape and continue his winning streak

Don't underestimate Fat Mir. Fat Mir is kind of like Ubereem, but with fat. I say let him do his thing. Granted he probably won't make it far, but this fat Mir we are seeing is very entertaining.

War fat Mir!