Frank Mir is facing a familiar opponent in Roy Nelson at Bellator 231 Friday night (Oct. 25) at the Mohegan Sun Arena. When looking at their time in combat sports, from their Grappler’s Quest competition in 2003 to their fight in the UFC, the rivalry –if there is one is simply just friendly competition to see who is the best. If anyone is counting, they are 1-1 overall in combat sports against each other so Bellator 231 should settle the score.
When asked by MMA News if he thought that was an advantage, Mir said, “If anything, it makes it more difficult.” He added that “when you work with them enough times, even if you’re better than they are, the gap closes.” Both Mir and Nelson hold black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu and while Nelson may have out-pointed Mir in grappling he believes they have crossed hands enough to be familiar with one another.
“We have a lot of common lines,” Mir said when he reflected on the history he has with Nelson. Mir said they are the same in a lot of ways, and that is what motivates him to do well on Friday night. “My motivation is just to be a better fighter, and a better person,” he said when thinking about how they match up now at this point in their careers.
“Really, Friday night it’s going to be a training session that everybody gets to watch and I get paid a lot of money for it.”
While they may have a lot in common, Mir thinks he repeats what he did in their last fight. “He’s a really good grappler, positionally,” Mir mentioned that Nelson is someone that has not been submitted and has been in the cage with some of the best heavyweight grapplers in MMA, including Mir himself.
For this fight, Mir just went with more conventional training, brining in a boxing coach. Fans might be in for a slugfest on Friday night.
