UFC 146: Junior Dos Santos vs. Frank Mir

Junior Dos Santos by Justin McAllister

UFC 146 features the Heavyweight Championship headlining main event between UFC world heavyweight champion Junior Do Santos 14-1 (8-0 UFC) makes his first defense against former two time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir 16-5 (14-5 UFC). Do Santos comes into his fight with Mir after defeating Cain Velasquez back in November of 2011 knocking out Veasquez to win the heavyweight title on the inaugral UFC on FOX fight card. Mir originally was to face the former champion Velasquez as the co-main event at UFC 146, but instead will be stepping in for Do Santos’s Original opponent Allistar Overeem who was removed from the main event due to failing a post fight drug test containning high Levels of testtosterone.Mir is coming into the main event on a three fight winning Streak defeating Mirko Flipovic, Roy Nelson, and most recently a submission victory over Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140.

The key strengths of between these two heavyweights is what makes this championship battle a pretty interesting match up. The champion Do Santos is very well rounded having great submission skills having trained under the Nouguiras in Brazillian Jiu Jitsu. Most of his wins however have come by way of knockout making him a well known dangerous stand up fighter. Mir on the other hand is a very well rounded fighter, and has excellent stand up along with Jiu Jitsu. However, Mir’s specialty is his submission skills especially off his back.

This fight is dangerous for both fighters with only one leaving the victor with the heavyweight title arond their waist. Do Santos must be aware that Mir is very powerfull on his feet, and time Mir’s punches to avoid getting hit by his powerfull one-two combinations he is capable of throwing. Do Santos would need to be cautious, and capitalize on any openings he may spot. With Do Santos very skilled with the ground game, utilizing those skills may also be a key success to get a win over Mir. Mir has all the credentials and tools to defeat Do Santos considering the size difference, height of past oppenents hasn’t really been much of a problem for Mir. If he can weather the powerfull punches of Do Santos, and use his excellent ground game like he has in past victories he could not only be once again the UFC heavyweight champion, but put himself in the history books as the second heavyweight to have won the title three times. As the fight nears, this could come down to whoever makes the first mistake that may tell us whats next in the future of the heavyweight division.