Emelianenko vs. Mir

This is the official discussion thread for Emelianenko vs. Mir. Let's see what you've got.

April.

Emelianenko is far past his prime, but I fully expect him to wreck Mir.  Mir can't take a punch anymore and Fedor can still deliver a powerful punch.

They are both years past their prime and Mir is coming off a two-year suspension. I don't have a ton of faith in either right now. 

Looks like Mir is the favorite so far. I don't see why.

@Green

what makes you say Mir can't take a punch anymore? There  a lot you can say about Mir, but him not being able to take a punch, does not seem to compute, with his current recent history. Mir chin has never been great, but it def not gone. He took shots from both Todd Duffee and Araloski, which he pretty much slugged it out with, in particular with todd Duffee, taking his shots. So I feel like stating his chin gone seems pretty inaccurate. Though I must admit i am leaning towards Fedor at the moment due to Fedor speed/power. I want to see how Frank physically looks aka did he jump back on the sauce or not.

@ImperatorFishrat I grew up with a girl that was a dancer at the Spearmint Rhino in Vegas where Mir worked as a bouncer and she introduced us.The first time I met him (maybe '03) the guy talked my ear off for a half hour.He is super nice and his passion for the sport is obvious right off the bat.The nicest fighter I have ever met.The biggest ******* I ever met was surprisingly Sugar Ray Leonard.Frank Mir is an awesome guy imo,I don't think you'd dislike him if you met him.

I agree with Franklin on the chin thing.

Yea ive only heard of Frank being a good guy. Skeliher has a great story about interviewing Frank where they got disconnected and Frank drove like 3 miles just to get service so he could call him back to finish the interview despite the fact the interview was already pretty much over, but Frank did not want to be disrespectful. That is a good dude right there.

@franklin

My assertion that Mir can't take a stiff shot anymore comes from all of the accumulated damage he has taken in his career. Of his ten losses, 8 are by KO. Granted this is Heavyweight we are talk about so I get that knockout losses are going to be more frequent, but even still that is a lot. Furthermore, like bigj points out above, Mir is coming off a two year suspension and is no longer on roids (supposedly). Ring rust will be a factor in the fight, and in a fight against a person who was once considered the best Heavyweight in the world (as well as competing with Anderson Silva and GSP for best pound for pound at the height of his career), that works against him.

With all of that factored in, as well as that Mir's grappling prowess will possibly be negated by Fedor's Sambo skills, I see this fight ending badly for Mir.

Two years would help his chin. Honestly just dont see how his chin really any worse. Two years would be good for his chin. I feel there way more other reasons to pick against him, rather then his chin. I mean Hunt was his last Loss, who can KO anyone. His two fights before that he literally slugged it out with two guys known for having knock out power.  Just seem like odd thing to hang your hat on, but each his own.  I agree Fedor winning by KO, I just think little has to do with Mir chin being shot I dont really think Mir time off or recent fights really suggest that this be the case.  I think Mir problem is his bad striking defense and Fedor speed which will be his undoing.   I still pick Mir against someone like Duffy who just has power. I think Fedor speed is going to be the major problem for Mir.

War Fedor always. 

Dunno what to think of this one. Fedor seems more shot but Mir is coming off a long suspension/layoff and looked really fat at their press conference.

If Mir comes in looking like he does right now (like he's in his 3rd trimester), then I think Fedor takes it based on his speed advantage.But if the Mir of old shows up I could see him knocking Fedor out or submitting him early too. Close one to call. Seeing what Maldonado was able to do to Fedor is worrying to say the least. I'll go with Mir by KO or club and sub.

I'm going to have to wait to see if Mir has lost that excess weight. He looked in worse shape than when he fought Dan Christensen.

Fedor's durability is shot but Mir has never reacted well to being hit anyway. The best weapon against a southpaw is a straight right hand and I imagine, given Fedor's activity and still-present, if diminished, handspeed, he should find Mir slipping early in an exchange and chin him. But this is not one to bet on.

It's going to be another wild Rogers/Arlovski style knockout from Fedor

https://twitter.com/jedigoodman/status/989907354194866176


I don't want to say Mir is on the sauce, but...