Size Matters

Brian KnappJul 11, 2009
Frank Mir understands why some see him as David to Brock Lesnar’s goliath, past history notwithstanding.

The two heavyweight champions -- Mir holds the interim belt -- will meet in the featured bout at UFC 100 on Saturday at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas. Lesnar tipped the scales at 265 pounds at the official weigh-in on Friday and figures to weigh considerably more when he enters the cage. Mir checked in at 245 pounds.

“If the two of us were standing in a bar,” Mir said during a pre-fight press conference, “I’d probably pick on me before I picked on him.”

Alas, the battlefields of mixed martial arts past are littered with appearances-can-be-deceiving lessons in which smaller men rose up to topple stronger adversaries. In fact, Mir defeated Lesnar the first time the two met, as he coaxed a tapout from the former World Wrestling Entertainment superstar with a first-round kneebar at UFC 81.

Lesnar wants revenge.

“I’m a sore loser,” he said. “I want my hand raised at the end. That’s the bottom line.”