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No one happy with Mir’s
knockout win By Dave Meltzer
 INDIANAPOLIS
– About the only solace Frank Mir took out of Saturday night’s UFC
119 match with Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic, is that he won via late
knockout and would have likely won had the fight gone to a decision.
A loss for the former UFC heavyweight champion at this point, coming
off losing two of his three previous fights, would have been
devastating.
“At least I can take a breath easy that it didn’t go to a judges
decision,” said Mir (14-5), following a fight that was mostly
comprised of Mir pushing Filipovic against the cage and little else.
“An [expletive] win is better than an [expletive] loss. [The
knockout is] the only highlight. Other than that I’m completely
pissed off about my performance.”
Mir used a Muay Thai technique late in
Round 3, pushing Filipovic’s head down and nailing him with a knee
to the face coming up at the same time. Filipovic’s eyes were blank
as he fell to the ground, and Herb Dean waved it off after Mir had
landed one last punch at 4:02.
To say the fight was a disappointment would be an understatement, as
the crowd of 15,881 fans at the Conseco Fieldhouse booed it much of
the way, leaving a damper on what had been a strong live show up to
that point.
Without saying a word, UFC president Dana White made a statement
about his feelings on the fight. Mir had the only knockout of the
11-fight card, and White gave two fight of the night bonuses and a
submission of the night bonus but skipped the usual knockout of the
night award.
The fans evidently had similar feelings, as Mir was booed even after
scoring a devastating knockout.
Regardless, the win will allow Mir to be put in a significant next
fight against one of the major heavyweight names.
Mir’s strategy was to take Filipovic down and go to his strength,
the submission game, and stay away from Filipovic’s stand-up. But
while Filipovic seems to have lost something in his once-lethal
stand-up game, his takedown defense was strong enough that Mir never
came close to putting him on his back.
But it did the Croatian little good. Mir was able to power him into
the cage at will, and he was never able to hurt Mir standing.
Filipovic (27-8-2, 1 no contest) came in at 227 pounds on five weeks
notice as a late replacement. He didn’t appear to be in his best
condition, although conditioning didn’t appear to be an issue.
Filipovic looked small next to Mir, who was 252 pounds. And Mir is
hardly a monster in today’s heavyweight division.
“I thought on my part, no disrespect to Mirko, it was a pretty bad
performance,” Mir said. “I could have pushed the pace more. While
he’s throwing those strikes, he caught my attention early with how
hard he threw that left hook. As far as striking, I could have been
more busy. I got really frustrated pushing him against the cage. I
was making mistakes that I wasn’t making a few weeks ago, lifting my
arms in the clinch and letting him get underhooks. That’s the
negative aspect, but without a single takedown, I stood for
two-and-a-half rounds with Mirko and won with a knockout.” Mir, who
has never been known for his conditioning, didn’t tire during the
14-minute match, something that may be partially attributed to his
new vegetarian lifestyle.
“Maybe if I was in worse shape, I wouldn’t have been thinking so
much,” he said. “I didn’t huff and puff one time. I’ve never been
known for conditioning. It wasn’t even a factor. I felt in great
shape. Now I have to break old habits and not fight like a guy who
is going to get tired.”
White gave two fight-of-the-night bonuses, both $70,000, to two
slugfests that saw local fighters win. Matt Mitrione (3-0), a former
football star at Purdue who briefly played in the NFL, won a
decision over Joey Beltran (12- 4). The other was former lightweight
champion Sean Sherk’s controversial split decision win over Evan
Dunham.
The undercard featured two fighters coming in undefeated who were
going to get the real test of whether they belonged at the top
level. While on paper, the results were split, the reality was both
Dunham (11-1) and light heavyweight Ryan Bader (13-0) seemed to pass
the test against established stars of the sport.
Dunham’s loss to Sherk (38-4-1) was a decision few seemed to agree
with, including White, who immediately after the fight used an
expletive to describe his reaction to the judging. The key was the
second round, as virtually everyone agreed Sherk won the first
round, and Dunham won Round 3 strong. The Yahoo! Sports card was
29-28 for Dunham.
Sherk got a takedown early in the round and landed some punches.
Dunham had two guillotine attempts, and late in the round, landed a
hard knee to the chin and followed with punches and knees that were
the most powerful blows of the round.
“I didn’t implement my game plan and I didn’t do what I needed to do
in the first round,” said Dunham, who Sherk praised as a future
lightweight champion after the fight. “I wanted to stand with him
and when he came in for the shot, stuff the shot and frustrate him.
If he got me down, I didn’t want him being able to hold me down.
Finally, when I made the decision to stand up, I was just being too
complacent and that’s a lesson learned.
Bader, a two-time All-American at Arizona State, used his wrestling
to win a straight 30-27 decision over Antonio Rogerio Nogueira
(19-4), a win that puts him in the elite class in the division.
Bader, a former “Ultimate Fighter” winner who was coached by
Nogueira’s twin brother, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira during that season
two years ago, was able to get six takedowns in the three rounds.
Nogueira never got his standup game on track and never threatened
with a submission on the ground.
“I think I’m close,” said Bader, when asked about a potential title
shot at champion Mauricio “Shogun” Rua. “It’s my goal. I’m pretty
young in the sport and I have a lot to learn. Ultimately my goal is
to have the belt some day. It’s up to the UFC who they want to put
me against. Whoever’s next, it’s going to be a tough fight, no
matter what.”
Nogueira was able to block several of Bader’s takedowns, but the
constant threat kept him from committing to his stand-up game. Bader
didn’t cut a lot of weight to make 205, so he physically looked
small next to Nogueira and couldn’t overpower him down, instead
having to time when he was off balance.
Bader was able to follow the game plan that Jason Brilz used in
Nogueira’s last fight on May 29 in Las Vegas, a fight in which many
felt Brilz was robbed of the decision.
But Bader at this point also doesn’t have the level of stand-up as
most of the light heavyweight division’s top contenders, and the
division includes fighters like Rashad Evans, Jon Jones and Lyoto
Machida who have far stronger wrestling games than Nogueira.
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