Frank Mir admits his intellect ‘hurts’ him in the cage
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Frank Mir’s critical thinking skills are sometimes to his detriment.
Frank Mir has never been a dumb guy, but he admits his smarts gets the better of him sometimes.
Mir (18-13) is scheduled to rematch Roy Nelson (23-17) at Bellator 231 on Friday, Oct. 25. The former UFC heavyweight champion spoke with Bloody Elbow about his in-cage hiccups ahead of the fight.
“I think sometimes my intellect, kinda hurt me. Not kinda, it hurts me at times,” he admitted. “If you’re like, ‘Hey we need you to do this’ I’m like, ‘Cool. Why?’ If you can’t explain to me why – even if you make me to do it – I just don’t have the same enthusiasm, I don’t invest as much. I wish I could say I was mentally strong enough to turn my critical thinking off and just move forward, but I’m not. I would make a horrible soldier.”
“That’s why the corner I use are people that are around me all the time,” he laughs. “It is problematic for me if I don’t have people that have a very high understanding of the martial arts I tune them out real quick.”
Mir has accomplished just about everything there is to do in the sport of mixed martial arts. Having lost his last four fights, and with a number of other endeavors in the works, fans would be forgiven for thinking he has one foot out of the door. Mir admits age is catching up to him, but insists he carries the same motivation he has had from the get-go.
“Honestly it’s the same factor that motivated me the very first time I stepped in there. Winning championships is cool. Records make for good dinner conversation. It makes your kids proud,” he said. “But really, honestly, I do martial arts because it’s a way of testing myself and improving myself. It’s the barometer for my life. Fighting, going out there competing, training, being focused, that’s the way I live my life. Fighting gets me paid to where I don’t need a full 9-5 job and I can be in the gym. It keeps my wife off my back.”
Turning on his analytical brain, Mir also dished on who he thinks is Bellator’s number one prospect.
“I think it’s still Aaron Pico. I think he’s had a bit of a rough patch because he’s not purely focused on just being the best martial artist. I think he’s a little distracted,” Mir argued. “For example, I saw him fight a year ago – when I was calling it in the booth – and he got knocked out by a guy he was physically dominating with his hands. There were opportunities for him to take the guy down, and he could have showed off a more complete game, but he was so focused on showing off his stand-up. That is a distraction. That is you not fully committing to just winning the fight.”
Bellator 231 takes place at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Other notable names on the card include Phil Davis, Ed Ruth, Bec Rawlings and Jake Hager.