Jake Rossen has a fantastic little interview over at Sherdog with Frank Mir regarding the potential of a bout with Anderson Silva.
Sherdog.com: What was your reaction to the news that Anderson Silva was singling you out?
Frank Mir: It would be a pleasure. It would be like saying you get to go in there and hit Tom Brady. Certain people in our sport have certain abilities, and he’s obviously going to be a legend. He’s never sparred with me, so the only way I can get to work with him is to beat him down in a fight. I look at it as a huge honor.
Sherdog.com: Why do you think they floated your name specifically?
Mir: I think he feels that out of all the heavyweights, I’d be the least likely to shoot on him before anybody else. Stylistically, it’s to his advantage. If he’s going to fight a heavyweight, standing up and trying to pick him apart is probably his best avenue for victory. Which heavyweight is less likely to take him down? I probably have one of the weaker shots in the heavyweight division. Cain Velasquez, Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin — all those guys wrestled in college at high levels. I only wrestled for two years in high school. If you’re going to stop someone’s shot, it’s probably easier to stop mine. I’ve also shown in my last couple of fights that I like to stand up.
Sherdog.com: So you’d stand with him?
Mir: Yeah, as long as I could. If he rings my bell, I’m going to go ahead and try to take him down. But why would I want to take him down right off the bat? I want to move around with the guy. Some of the things he did, I don’t even believe. When I watched the Forrest [Griffin] fight, it looked like I was watching a movie. Some people see that and they’re afraid of it. When I saw Mike Tyson fight when I was a kid and everyone was terrified, I was a 12-year-old going, “Wow, what would it feel like to fight him? How great would that be?”
I’m curious. I want to see what it feels like. I want to test myself against them.
I’ve been very vocal in my desire to see Anderson Silva move to the heavyweight division. As Frank pointed out, Silva walks around at 220 pounds, so he would be the same size as Randy Couture going into any fight in that division. He has the striking abilities and the power to knock out anyone in the division, which would make for some very interesting fights. And there’s no real potential for Silva at light heavyweight because he’s not going to fight the champion. Yeah, there are some superfights available in the division, but at heavyweight you’d have a guy who is making the jump from middleweight chasing the heavyweight belt and the monster who currently holds it. It would be very, very interesting and certainly would fulfill the challenge that Silva so desperately seeks.
