UFC 146: Should Frank Mir Retire After His Loss to Junior dos Santos? - Joe Chacon's Blog

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UFC 146: Should Frank Mir Retire After His Loss to Junior dos Santos? Stuck

Posted on May 27, 2012 at 05:32 AM.

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Photo Credit: Rod Mar for ESPN.com

Frank Mir failed in his attempt to recapture the heavyweight championship last night as he lost to Junior dos Santos in the second round by TKO.

Mir only had one strong attempt at a takedown against Dos Santos and that came early in the first round. After Mir shot in for the takedown, Dos Santos spun away and avoided Mir's heal-hook attempt.

Dos Santos wagged his finger to Mir to let him know that the takedown was not going to work. As it turns out, he was correct.

For fans who have followed Mir closely through out his career, it has become painfully evident that his chin is now failing him. This TKO loss marked the sixth knockout loss of his career.

Once the chin starts to go, the rest of a fighters' abilities become irrelevant.

For example, Chuck Liddell looked great for the first 4:54 seconds of his final fight. His punches were landing and he was even shooting in for takedowns. Unfortunately, at the 4:55 mark Franklin hit Liddell's chin and thus ended his career.

Now that Mir has been knocked back down the heavyweight contender ladder, should he hang it up? I think so. I'd hate to see him hang on too long and suffer any more long term damage than what may already exist.

I had the opportunity to ask Mir a question regarding his future a couple of days before UFC 146:

Quote:


	Joe Chacon: You have had a stellar UFC career. Do you feel this fight will be your last opportunity to win a title? Frank Mir: I'm way too young for that. Dan Henderson is fighting for a UFC title. Just goes to show you that as long as you're healthy, who knows?

From a pure age standpoint, it's true Mir is still not too old to climb back up the heavyweight rankings. At 33-years-of-age it's not unheard of.

However, when the chin starts to go it doesn't matter how young the fighter is, he needs to consider retirement.

What do you think? Should Frank Mir retire? If he continues to fight, will he ever be competing for the title again?

Joe Chacon is a staff writer for Operation Sports and a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. Follow him on Twitter @JoeChacon.

Comments

# 1 Vaporub83 @ May 27

I was unable to watch this fight, but if what you say about his chin is true then he should retire. I think his weight class is the toughest to overcome. Heavyweight more than other class throws more powerful strikes. Once the report of a glass chin is out there it becomes too large of a target.

# 2 Noah Weber @ May 27

I don't think Mir can go out like this. I hope he gets an easier fight to show us what he has left. Then he can either retire as a winner or keep testing himself.

# 3 DJ @ May 27

Mir is a good gatekeeper for the HW division, and in instances like this, can slide into a main event slot due to his ability to sell a fight with his promos/interviews.

# 4 Pappy Knuckles @ May 27

I don't know how I feel about this. His chin is definitely a concern, but I also feel like he has fuel left in the tank. He was just coming off 3 wins in a row and getting dropped by a killer like Dos Santos is nothing to be ashamed of. I support his decision no matter which direction he chooses. There are still a lot of guys in the division that he can compete with, but those big boys aren't losing their power any time soon. I enjoyed his commentary in WEC and think he could have a nice future in broadcasting.

# 5 ps3veron @ May 28

I am going to watch the fighter later on today but I am a huge fan of Mir, he's my favorite HW. I find him technical (his ground jiu jitsu is dynamite) and he has what I think is a good stand up game.

However, he has lost a lot of fights recently and I don't honestly know if he's going to get any better. We have guys like Dos Santos, Valsequez and despite all the doping issues Overreem.

As much as I have tons of respect for Mir, I am now beginning to think that he just doens't have what these others fighters do. Sure, I can see him holding on to like 3rd or 4th position but I am sad to say that I don't think he has that HW championship material anymore

# 6 footyking10 @ May 28

Mir did look like a shadow of his former self in the Dos Santos fight, however, JDS is one of the greatest fighters in the sport as of right now.

One of the interesting aspects for me was watching the primetime episodes. Mir seemed to be ever-so slightly less focused on his training, as he had his kids running around the gym whilst he trained. Whereas JDS seemed like an absolute animal and would seem to be 100% focused on his training with no kids as a distraction.

I may be wrong but its just an observation. I don't think Mir should retire as he is still a great fighter, and as Pappy said, losing to JDS is nothing to be ashamed of.