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Report: Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin set for UFC 111
By Zach Arnold | December 16, 2009
Alternate headline that I recommend — Repeat of UFC 100 to happen at UFC 111 for the same low, low price of $55 USD.
Topics: Media, MMA, UFC, Zach Arnold | 30 Comments » | Permalink | Trackback |
Ok, I let it go the first time but what is with the snarky comments when it comes to Mir? that’s twice now.
Mir vs Carwin is a great fight and should be a nice holdover until we find out what’s goin on with Lesnar’s health.
There is no reason to bitch about this and GSP defending his WW title, you’re starting to come off like the rest of the posters on here Zach and that ain’t a good thing.
It’s amazing how many “scoops” you get when your site is as hard hitting as Yahoo or Fanhouse. Mike Chiapetta is the new Kevin Iole.
I wasn’t complaining about Mir vs. Carwin being booked at all. I just think the outcome, much like Mir/Lesnar II, isn’t all that much in doubt. It’s a great fight for me because of the amount of material from the two guys in the hype leading up to the fight, got no complaints about that virtual stimulus package for comments that can be used in articles.
As for St. Pierre vs. Dan Hardy in New Jersey in March, that is an entirely different topic.
Mike is a good writer. I like his work ethic. That said, yeah, he did work for the Spike site for this season’s Ultimate Fighter. It’s not exactly like he hid under a ghost name and played two sides of the coin, though…
When Dana White is coming to you to release information, because he knows you are just a stenographer and not a reporter, you are no longer credible.
In the midst of the UFC’s insistance that a neo nazi sponsor was appropriate, Chiapetta allowed White to use him to take cheapshots at Strikeforce while asking no questions about the Nazis.
Could the Mir backlash online have anything to do with his inflated record of a gift from Mazzagatti, beating a guy who should have just pulled out from the fight, and beating one of the least talented HWs in the company and people acting like he just beat Fedor? I wonder.
“I wasn’t complaining about Mir vs. Carwin being booked at all. I just think the outcome, much like Mir/Lesnar II, isn’t all that much in doubt.”
Really because I don’t see that at all, the fact of the matter is that
Carwin isn’t Brock. He’s not as athletic he’s not as good a wrestler and he unlike Brock has shown he can be rocked and put in danger. Mir has also improved his overall mma game since that fight, he’s gotten bigger stronger and improved his striking not to mention he already has great bjj.
So even if you believe that it will end similar to Brock/Mir 2 simply put the snark isn’t neccessary and should be saved for fights that deserve it.
I constantly read online that Mir is not legitimate.
Also, that Randy Couture is a washed-up has-been, and that Heath Herring was a nobody from PRIDE.
And these are usually the same people that call Brock Lesnar the #1 fighter in the world…and he earned that ranking because – apparently – he beat three nobodies?
I think Mir will knock Carwin out. When Shane fights it looks like he is physically incapable of head movement. Mir is a southpaw and his skills have really increased on the feet; I expect to see him put Shane down, leading to the epic title unification bout for Brock’s return fight. I can’t wait for that.
Yea I would disagree about Mir/Carwin. Carwin hasn’t even shown a ground game yet, no one knows how he’ll work in Frank’s guard. And yes Shane hits hard, but his standup is not the same as Kongo’s. If Mir can use good head movement with Cheick, I have a hard time believe Shane is going to be able to even hit Mir. Let’s not forget that Shane was getting tagged by Neil Wain.
“And these are usually the same people that call Brock Lesnar the #1 fighter in the world…and he earned that ranking because – apparently – he beat three nobodies?”
No, you’ve got your groups mixed up. Those comments are by the people that try to downplay the UFC’s HW division. They’re the ones that like to say that Fedor’s best opponents are outside the UFC, and nobody in the UFC deserves a shot at him. Brock beat nobody, Carwin, JDS, and Velasquez are all untested, Mir lost to Vera, etc.
Good fight. Looking forward to both Mir/Carwin and Nogueira/Velasquez.
The overall division throughout the entire sport is thin enough. But at least the UFC is the only organization to put on credible fights like these. If you complain, you can always enjoy your Overeem vs. Fajita fights….
45 Huddle;
UFC does that THE best heavyweight division, no doubt about that. But they are not the only heavyweight game in town. Strikeforce has Fedor, Melvin Manhoef, Brett Rogers, Fabricio Werdum, Alistair Overeem, etc. And of course others like Travis Wuiff, Tim Sylvia, Andrei Arlovski, etc.
Carwin all day!
Mirs standup is getting better, but thats only more than Zero. Carwin hits harder and has a better chin, whether he moves out of the way or not.
If Mir is at 100% he might get one heavy shot in, which Carwin wont be bothered to pay attention to. But when Carwin hits Mir its gonna look similar to when Mir got hit in both Brock fights. Or the Vera fight, or the Pe da Pano fight…
Mir – Carwin a squash match?
REALLY?!!
C’mon. Sure, everyone has a right to their own opinion,but this really seems like a total dismissal of Mir as a fighter. One who has re-evaluated his game in the aftermath of Lesner II & done something about it. Which seems to have worked quite well judging by his destruction of Check Kongo.
Who, while not among the elite heavies has been a perennial top 10 contender in the UFC for years & had never been man handled & finished like that before.
I’m the biggest Mir hater there is, but this is exactly the fight they need to do right now, and I’m not at all confident Carwin walks through him. If they stand and bang, who knows? If it goes to the mat, well, has anyone seen Carwin in top control? I haven’t.
He did against the mighty Neil Wain!
“…well, has anyone seen Carwin in top control? I haven’t.”
I think that has to be Mirs best bet judging from the well documented history of wrestling vs. Jiu Jitsu.
But hopefully Mir tries the old switheroo again one time too many and tries to KO Carwin with his new found love of western boxing.
Chuck, just to run the reality bell Manhoef and Wuiff are Light Heavyweights and not good ones at that.
I’m real excited to see this fight. I think it is a great test for both guys. I have big questions about Carwins ability to move and avoid shots against an athletic opponent. Can Mir absorb more than one big shot from Carwin and who has te advantage on the mat? Brock showed the world how to nullify Mir’s ground game. Is Carwin strong enough and does he have the hip control to do it?
45 Huddle must have the memory of a field mouse, because one promotion put two “credible” heavyweight fights on the same card last month, including a true world title fight.
I think Mir is comically overrated, especially after last weekend, but cleary he has a shot to beat Carwin. I mean, a self-professed “striker” like Chieck Kongo didn’t even pick up on basic things like Mir having only one punching combo comprised of two techniques (left cross, right uppercut). So right away, he bites on an obvious feint and gets melted by a left cross. It doesn’t seem far-fetched to suggest Carwin could fall into the same KO pattern, especially after seeing Gonzaga find his chin so easily.
Mir vs. Carwin, even for an arbitrary UFC title, doesn’t really excite me, but the 45 Huddles of the world will eat it up, especially after Kongo did such a good job making Mir look good.
“45 Huddle must have the memory of a field mouse, because one promotion put two “credible” heavyweight fights on the same card last month, including a true world title fight.”
In one to two years, nobody will think Rogers as credible. As far as the worth of Mir’s victory over Kongo, I’d make Kongo a good favorite over Rogers, so from there you can extrapolate Rogers place in the division.
Shane Carwin poses the same match up problems for Mir that Lesnar does. Too big, too strong, and punches too hard. Carwin by 3rd round TKO.
Except for the fact that what beat Mir was Brock’s gameplan and technique, the type which I haven’t seen from Carwin in any of his fights.
I love how people act like Mir is a LHW fighting at HW, he’s not he’s a legit 255 pound athletic HW. Being big and strong without anything else is going to get you chocked out like Kongo was.
@Chuck
Melvin Manhoef is a light heavyweight.
Man I don’t understand how you can be upset about this fight in any way, shape, or form. The UFC may have its share of problems but it’s the fact that they put on fights like this and the Nog/Cain fight that make them the #1 promotion in the world. Both of those are good fights that need to happen to sort out the rankings. It would be easy to sit all four on the shelf and keep them viable as instant contenders but it is much better for the sport and the fans to have them fight. Novel match ups between the UFC’s top HWs, whats not to like?
Spacedog is on the money.
Anyone who discredits Mir/Carwin while praising Fedor/Rogers as significant or a serious fight between top contenders is either being disingenuous or is not very intelligent.
I’m not a Frank Mir fan. I almost always root for him to lose. I’m not sure why. I can understand where people say he is overrated or his resume is thin on the top. I also think though that people give way too much credit to his lose to Vera and the shaky year and a half he had after the motorcycle accident. You guys realize he almost lost his leg, right? And that he came back way too early and it is a miracle he can even fight.
Nog looked fat in his fight with Mir and I’m not sure I buy the staph angle, I think he may have just not trained that much. Watch Mir/Nog again and compare it to Nog/Barnett, Nog/Sylvia and Nog/Fedor. Nog fights exactly the same in all the fights. He does what he always does, stand right in front of his opponent and hope they get tangled up and hit the mat. Mir is just much more athletic than Barnett and Fedor and constantly takes angles on Nog to keep him off guard.
Seeing how effortlessly Rogers got away from Fedor on the ground and how uncomfortable Rogers kept Fedor on their feet (also this happened to Fedor with Arlovski, Cro Cop until the doctor check, and Arona years back) I think Mir has a real good shot at beating Fedor.
Disparage Kongo all you want, but realize if he wasn’t in UFC you guys who dis him would be all over him. Compare him to Rogers, Overeem, Barnett and King Mo. He is every bit as good if not better than all of them. The only guy I’d give a real good shot of beating him would be Barnett by lay and pray.
I never said I was upset or tried to discredit the fight, I just said I wasn’t excited by it, if if they created another title for them to fight over.
If you are trying to tell me Brett Rogers isn’t the same league as Shane Carwin, I’d have to disagree. I think both of them need to be tested a bit more, but they are both obviously dangerous fighters who can finish.
Uncomfortable on the feet with Rogers? I don’t know what fight you watched, but he was constantly ragdolling Rogers around on the feet and if he wasn’t doing that he was swarming him with punches. I think your memory has been clouded by the fact that Rogers cut+broke his nose with the jab, but other than that I don’t see how he was uncomfortable on his feet with him.
1. I’m excited about Mir-Carwin. Stylistically it’s a cool fight, and ranking-wise it makes perfect sense as the fight to establish the #! contender at HW.
2. Mir wins by first round submission.
Mir-Carwin is an excellent fight. I’ve heard people saying that Carwin should walk away with it. Can’t agree. To me, Mir is a pretty solid favorite.
I am a Mir fan (obvious to anyone by this point probably), he’s got the story, he’s got the charisma, he’s well spoken and knowledgeable about the sport technically and also in regards to who is fighting, what their styles are etc, and he’s not a bad looking guy.
Carwin isn’t an easy fight for him to walk into, but he does have attributes that are similar to Lesnar. If Mir can’t beat Carwin, then he doesn’t deserve another shot at Lesnar, and likewise, Mir is a tough gatekeeper for Carwin who has really only fought Gonzaga as far as legit fighters go (no one else he’s fought has even come within sight of a title fight let alone fought in one or held a belt, unlike the guys that Lesnar’s fought in UFC who have all had experience holding a title or in the case of Herring winning a tournament and fighting legitimate competition for years in one of the two top promotions in the sport even though he lost all the important fights (Nog*3, Cro Cop, Fedor, Belfort )).
It’s a good match, and whoever wins this fight is a more legitimate contender for having fought it.