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Post by Ian from 616Entertainment. on Mar 6, 2009 17:09:20 GMT -5
A planned rematch between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir for UFC 98 on May 23 that would have unified Lesnar’s UFC heavyweight title and Mir’s interim UFC heavyweight has been canceled.
Multiple sources have confirmed to FiveOuncesOfPain.com that the UFC was recently informed by Mir’s camp that he has been unable to train recently due to a back injury that could require surgery.
There is no word as to whether Lesnar will remain on the card against a new opponent or if he will be taken off the card entirely.
The UFC had just officially announced Lesnar vs. Mir II via its website earlier this week. The much-anticipated rematch had been anticipated to draw a large buyrate on pay-per-view.
The first meeting at between Lesnar and Mir took place at UFC 81 in February of 2008 and ended at 1:30 of round 1 after Lesnar was caught in a kneebar by Mir. Competing in just his second pro fight, the former NCAA heavyweight champion was forced to tap despite the fact that he had knocked Mir down and was reigning down punches on him just prior to getting trapped in the submission hold.
The two had been slated to fight each again other after both secured wins in the first round of a heavyweight title unification tournament. However, a Lesnar vs. Mir rematch in the finals of the tournament had been considered an improbability going in.
But the odds of a second fight between the two changed greatly after Lesnar won the heavyweight title from defending champion Randy Couture this past November at UFC 91. Couture, fighting for the first time after a 15 month layoff was TKO’d by the former WWE superstar at 3:07 of round 2.
The rematch between Lesnar and Mir became a reality following Mir’s upset victory over defending interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 this past December. Displaying improved standup, Mir was able to TKO the former PRIDE heavyweight champion at 1:54 of round 2 .[/i] I don't know if I'm buying it yet, there's a couple grammatical errors in that article. |
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Post by NYdream™ on Mar 6, 2009 17:33:55 GMT -5
MMAmania is pretty reliable and it was on there. Im hoping Mir can make full recovery and get his match when he is healthy. He is interim champ so at one point even if Brock faces someone else first he will get his match...
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Post by Gore on Mar 6, 2009 17:49:01 GMT -5
IT's on MMAWeekly as well. I was really looking forward to this fight, too.
Maybe Lesnar faces the winner of Gonzaga/Carwin.
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Gonzo Customs
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Post by Gonzo Customs on Mar 6, 2009 17:54:39 GMT -5
I'd definitely like to see Brock and Carwin go at it if Mir is hurt. I'm disappointed this match isn't happening though I was really looking forward to it. Hopefully Mir has a good recovery and we see him back soon.
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Deleted
Joined on: Jun 13, 2024 19:00:14 GMT -5
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Post by Deleted on Mar 6, 2009 18:06:18 GMT -5
ugh..... Now I need a new sig...
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Post by magnumkane on Mar 6, 2009 18:33:15 GMT -5
Brock and Mirko (I hope), this really does freakin suck, oh well I hope it means the hype and build up is even better when it does materialize, I hope the Mir camp will not cite this as an excuse if he looses...
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Post by moogie101 on Mar 6, 2009 18:48:01 GMT -5
Just as quickly as it was announced, a UFC heavyweight title unification bout between current champion Brock Lesnar and interim titleholder Frank Mir has apparently been scrapped.
Fiveouncesofpain.com reported that Mir suffered a back injury that has kept him from training recently and caused his removal from the UFC 98 main event bout.
Multiple MMAWeekly.com sources, however, indicated that it is a knee injury that has precluded Mir from training. They also said that he recently underwent surgery to repair the knee, which will sideline him for the next four to six weeks to allow the knee to sufficiently heal.
The UFC had no comment at the time of publication. It is currently unknown if the promotion will try to find a replacement for Mir in the bout with Lesnar, or if they will move to insert a new UFC 98 headline bout.
(UPDATE) UFC president Dana White later told Yahoo! Sports following the UFC 96 weigh-in at Nationwide Arena in Columbus, Ohio, on Friday that he knew nothing of a Mir injury.
"If he were hurt and the fight was off, I'd assume I would know," White said.
Mir failed to return messages to Yahoo! Sports and MMAWeekly.com.
Credit MMAweekly.com's latest update on the situation.
Apparently knows nothing of such an injury or the fight being pulled.
If it is does the fight get held off or a replacement brought in? Of course the net is full of calls to bring in Fedor, isn't gonna happen.
I reckon the most obvious solution (IF TRUE) is to bounce Kongo from the Hardonk fight & put him in with Lesnar. Would be an interesting fight, UFC seems high on Kongo & his lack of ground ability would be a bonus for Brock.
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Post by Mr. Old School™ on Mar 6, 2009 23:00:29 GMT -5
Well, this really sucks. I was looking forward to this fight more than any other and look what happens..Mir gets hurt and has to pull out. I think Brock would've destroyed him, but we'll just have to wait a bit longer to find out for sure or not.
I don't want to see Brock have to fight a replacement, just in case Brock loses. They should just push it back until Mir is good and ready because this is the fight that everyone wants to see again.
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Bob Sapp
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Post by Bob Sapp on Mar 7, 2009 2:00:05 GMT -5
There's a report on YAHOO that says he's still going to fight.
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Sandy
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Post by Sandy on Mar 7, 2009 4:30:27 GMT -5
wow....
this f***ing sucks. Probably my most anticipated match that I wanted to see...
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Post by The Mac on Mar 7, 2009 6:45:25 GMT -5
Damn if its true that really does suck!
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Post by spawnsyxx9 on Mar 7, 2009 9:48:37 GMT -5
IT's on MMAWeekly as well. I was really looking forward to this fight, too. Maybe Lesnar faces the winner of Gonzaga/Carwin. That's what I was thinking. I'd like to see Gonzaga v Lesnar. |
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Post by NYdream™ on Mar 7, 2009 10:10:23 GMT -5
Here is an article stating Mir will still fight at UFC 98....
COLUMBUS, Ohio – The heavyweight title unification bout between champion Brock Lesnar and interim champ Frank Mir at UFC 98 on May 23 remains on despite arthroscopic surgery performed on Mir’s right knee earlier this week.
Fiveouncesofpain.com initially reported Friday that the bout was off because of a back injury sustained by Mir. It later corrected that to say it was a knee injury. And then MMAWeekly.com reported Mir had knee surgery.
UFC president Dana White said after the weigh-in for UFC 96 at the Nationwide Arena that he knew nothing of an injury by Mir. Mir and manager Dean Albrecht did not return messages.
“I don’t know anything about it, so I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about it,” White said of Mir’s injury and the report that the fight was off. “I’m not too worried about it now. If that were the situation, I’d know about it. I honestly don’t know right now. I haven’t talked to Frank and I haven’t talked to Lesnar and if that’s the situation, I’m not going to make any statements until I talk to everybody.”
But a source in Las Vegas close to Mir said his knee began swelling excessively last week after a workout. After an examination, Mir had arthroscopic surgery to “clean up” the knee.
Mir won the interim title from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in December despite a training camp that was filled with injuries. Mir’s back was bothering him and he received frequent treatment on it in an attempt to enable him to compete.
An alternative would be to push the title bout back to UFC 100 on July 11 in Las Vegas, but White said because he had no information, he couldn’t comment.
I hope he does fight but I wouldnt mind it being puhed to UFC 100
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Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai
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Post by Johnny Lawrence - Cobra Kai on Mar 7, 2009 13:00:54 GMT -5
I think most of the confusion here is that the original report jumped the gun on calling the fight off. Don't get me wrong... clearly the story of Mir's injury is legit, and clearly that makes it excessively LIKELY that the fight will be postponed (or canceled).
But the fight, right now, is not canceled. The first report (5 Oz.) said it was canceled from their very first report on the matter... but technically, even if Mir says he needs to put the fight off, it's not "canceled" until UFC cancels it. Mir could be on life support right now and unless the UFC cancels the fight, it's still not canceled.
Mir is apparently hurt. He had surgery, and there is major doubt about whether his Lesnar fight will happen on 5/23, or later in the summer, or (if UFC decides to pair up Lesnar with a new challenger on 5/23) at all.
That's the story. And until UFC makes a formal decision, that remains the story... but there's all this confusion because of the wording of the fight being "canceled," or "called off," or whatever. Better wording could have avoided all the confusion from the start, but now, we're stuck with 5 Oz. defending themselves and everyone else saying they're wrong. Which they're not... they just jumped the gun on something that's probably inevitable and worded it a little too strongly, thus reporting something that hasn't happened yet.
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Nirvana is Happiness
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Post by Nirvana is Happiness on Mar 7, 2009 13:06:57 GMT -5
I wanted to see Mir whoop Lesnar's ass so bad. I can easily see them having a second encounter in the near future though.
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