I feel the intangible component is that Randy has the psychology of a champion. He’s able to get through tough moments and has that the discipline to get things done.
Mir, I feel, is mentally all over the place and doesn’t have the discipline of a champion where you know he knows what to do to win.
It’s also the only time where a fighter had back control for an entire round and everyone still cheered!
What about Pride?
vera looked like he may be a world beater for a sec. he has a very interesting career.
Mir knocked out much better strikers than Couture too - Cro Cop, Big Nog, and hell even Duffee had crisper hands if it weren’t for his glass chin.
Nog was a shadow of his former self vs Mir.
Pride era Nog beats any version of Mir.
Could say something similar about Cro Cop.
Cro cop sure…but come on man, nog?
Why do you not think a healthy mir could do the same to a younger version of big nog?
If they bith hit teh mat i could see a similar sub from mir to any version of nog!
I don’t.
Nog moved a lot better in Pride.
UFC era Nog was so slow he literally had to adjust his striking style because he couldn’t evade strikes at a distance.
He was basically a punching bag if he wasn’t pushing forward and threatening with heavy leather.
IMO peak Nog is the superior fighter and grappler.
And it’s not just Nog.
Guys like Josh Barnett and even Roy Nelson were superior overall grapplers than Mir IMO.
Not that Mir isn’t great grappler.
Just that he was very slick and opportunistic with submissions capitalizing off of mistakes.
It’s not like he was a dominant positional grappler. He got kind of bullied by big aggressive fighters throughout his career.
But they had better not fuck up.
There’s a reason we call UFC era Nog “Zombie Nog”.
IMO Pride era Nog beats any version of Mir 9/10 times.
Mir subbing Zombie Nog was kind of like beating Mike Tyson in the late 90s.
Impressive?
Sure.
But don’t start getting cocky about what might have been…
Because it wouldn’t have.
Looked like a two division champ, according to himself
I would go with the Devil Murr in this one. Prime Mir was a beast and ahead of his time, everything went to shit when he fell in love with boxing.
Alot of people jumped in that wagon back then LOL
Doesn’t anyone else see Mir catching Couture like Enson if their early career versions fought each other? Also when Mir was coming into his own Couture had already lost to Barnett and Ricco. Mir has the same size advantage over Couture those two had, though a different style for sure. Guess where my head is going is Couture struggled against the bigger stronger guys at this point, and Mir falls into that category.
The Sylvia win was awesome though it is comparable to a favorable match up like GSP vs Bisping. Sylvia had a pretty fucked back around that time.
September 2009(?)
Frank Mir vs Roy Nelson
Not sure how hard of path these two had before this match. Have watched this several times over the years and always think the same thing about how good Roys corner did instructing him.
Anyone at this match? Feedback about the match from some grappling practitioners? How was the grappling scene during those years?
Mir at his best beats Randy. Big size advantage, elite guard game and capable striker.
If MMA existed when Randy was a teenager my answer changes to nobody beats him ever
Mir was too big and good on the ground for Randy. There’s no spot that Randy has an advantage in that fight.