by Eric J

Any fan of MMA, be it zealots- like you. Yes, you reading this- or the casual fan that may stroll across a Spike TV airing of a UFC event, or the one that might be dining while a PPV event is on, or even the one who may catch another organization on a different media, all know the name Frank Mir and BJ Penn.

Now you may be asking yourself, “ok, yeah we know them, but what do they have in common enough to talk about?” And my answer is, more than Conner and Dustin Diamond do. Except Dustin Diamond aka Screech never pulled Lisa Turtle or Kelly Kapowski and Conner has somehow managed to get the ridiculously gorgeous Arianny Celeste to accompany him to a senior dance- But in all seriousness the parallels between the two, Mir and Penn- as well as Conner and Mr. Diamond- are incredible.

First of all, both Mir and Penn have some of the games best BJJ. No one wants to go to the ground with either of theses guys, assuming you can even get them there. Which brings me to the second thing they have in common, Stand up. BJ has always been a pretty vicious striker, and counter-attack boxer, but from his last fight against Diego Sanchez every one was able to see just how devastating it can be. Frank Mir has not usually been feared as a striker but more so his ground game, however, his last few fights have shown he’s no slouch ion his feet. Out boxing Big Nog, known for his ground game as well but isn’t scared to stand and scrap with the best (insert Fedor reference), and most recently his bout against Cheick Congo, a darn good striker. Mir dismantled him in a matter of seconds with a left hook and went on to choke him out. Impressive. See the parallels yet? Ok, how about the fact that they were both Titleholders, and BJ still retaining his LW belt. However the main parallel that I see between the two are that they are just now realizing that they have to get past the idea that their raw talent is enough to keep them at the top.Early on in their careers they have relied strictly on their talent, neglecting their strength and conditioning. Even in the past few years the only knock against either man’s fight game was their inability to go the distance in fights with out looking absolutely gassed. However, they can rely on their talent alone and get past many of the fighters they face, but what happens when BJ comes across the physical specimens that are GSP (You know the “show her who’s tha boss” and the “I waz not imprezzed by yir parformance”…yeah that guy…oh and the WW champ) ,he gets embarrassed. BJ was absolutely out-classed in that fight. GSP picked BJ apart and broke his will. What did BJ do after fight? He went back to the drawing board and realized that his talent could only take him so far, and he needed something else to put him over the edge. I know you are probably saying that BJ had been handling the LW division decisively already, and you’re correct, but, in my opinion, his main goal in all of this is to avenge his losses to GSP and become the WW champ again. After the GSP II fight, or Greasegate, BJ became a man possessed armed with a new ,intense work out regiment, he came out and fought against Kenny Florian and Diego Sanchez with a fervor he had been lacking in many of his previous fights. He dispatched both Kenny and Diego with ease. Now if you apply this reasoning to Mir it should be simple to see what I’m talking about, however if you have yet to put it together let me share my thoughts…

Mir has had his share of set backs in his career, but none so embarrassing as the beating handed to him by current HW champ Brock Lesnar. Mir during the entire lead up to the fight discredited Lesnar’s size as a reason he would win. Mir solely relied on his skills as a mixed martial artist to lead him to victory, but that clearly wasn’t the case the second time around. Every honest MMA fan will admit that Frank Mir is head and shoulders above Lesnar as far as mixed martial arts goes. From every indication after the fight it seems that Mir has given in to the idea that size does matter in the ring. In his fight with Congo Mir came out looking very impressive, he added a lot of muscle mass and looked shredded compared to his old self. That particular bout didn’t last long enough for Mir to show that his cardio has improved, but from many indications it seems that he has been dedicated more than ever to his cardio and strength training. Mir has stated that he’s walking around the 280 mark with a minute percentage of body fat. After the beating Mir received from Lesnar and BJ received form GSP, the both have become men possessed. Mir has clearly stated it’s his desire to have that belt back around his waist and I would be surprised if BJ didn’t want that WW belt just as badly, and I think they taking steps in the right direction with their strength and condition training.

Both of these champions are now starting to realize their truly scary potentials inside the cage. Now armed with the knowledge and will to work, these two legions in the sport will be more dominating than ever before.

Popularity: 11%