Mir matchmaking

I hope Frank Mir beats Minotauro Nogueira Saturday night at UFC 140. Why? Simply because it might lead to a third match against Brock Lesnar.

This is nothing against Nogueira, who I have to admit has been gracious leading up to this fight while Mir has been taking one verbal shot after another in regards to their match almost three years ago. Mir defeated “Big Nog” in the second round via technical knockout, the first time the big Brazilian had lost a fight via TKO.

Two days later UFC president Dana White said Nogueira had just gotten over a staph infection some three weeks before the fight and had a five-day stay in hospital. Rightly or wrongly, it clearly took some of the shine off of Mir’s win.

And judging by his serious demeanour leading up to this fight and some of the jabs he’s been taking at Nogueira, it is apparent Mir wants to win this fight to put a stop to something that has clearly been bothering him for some three years. He feels like he wasn’t given proper respect for his victory.

Mir’s story is one of the most interesting of all the current UFC combatants. The one-time bouncer and “director of security” at a strip club in Vegas rose to become a champion in the heavyweight division, only to be sidelined three months later because of a motorcycle accident that resulted in a broken leg and torn knee ligaments. He later battled painkiller and alcohol addiction.

And if you go back to all the fights in recent UFC history, was there a bigger one than the Mir-Lesnar match in February 2008? For purposes of the UFC expanding its domain and creating traction outside of its own hardcore audience, there couldn’t have been a greater buildup than that match.

Lesnar had his own following from his pro wrestling career. He was billed as the Next Big Thing, which he clearly became, evolving as an athletic big guy who developed skills on the microphone after some help from manager Paul E. Dangerously, better known as Paul Heyman.

Lesnar left the WWE after a few years burned out by the rugged schedule and morphed into different careers, including a brief one as a pro football player, which failed miserably.

But when he became a mixed martial artist and caught the attention of the UFC, his debut against Mir had everyone in the wrestling and MMA world buzzing with anticipation. Lesnar took it to Mir early in the first round, although he did use some illegal head shots that drew a foul and a one-point deduction from the referee. Lesnar’s inexperience showed and he was caught in a kneebar and tapped out after only 90 seconds. And you had to feel good for Mir, who was clearly overlooked in the betting and the hype.

Lesnar would learn from his mistakes and nine months later beat Randy (The Natural) Couture for the heavyweight belt, leading up to the rematch against Mir, 17 months after their first encounter. This time, Lesnar won convincingly. Who will ever forget his post-victory celebration, giving the crowd the one-finger salute for repeatedly booing him, dissing the beer company that is a huge sponsor of the UFC and making a remark about having sex with his wife later that night.

Lesnar would be forced to apologize at the post-fight media conference by UFC president Dana White, who has been known to throw out some colourful comments laced with profanity but is smart enough to know that the sponsors are king, in particular the one that uses that as part of its slogan.

Lesnar’s career has been limited since then by various medical problems, including mono and later a serious intestinal disorder that required surgery. He beat Shane Carwin in a unification heavyweight title fight almost a year after the win over Mir. Carwin beat Mir before that to earn the right to fight Lesnar. But three months later, Lesnar lost his belt to Cain Velasquez. He hasn’t fought since because of continuing medical issues.

Last month in a primetime nationally-televised bout on FOX, Velasquez lost his belt after only 64 seconds of the first round to Junior Dos Santos, the only time he has been defeated in his career. Lesnar and White were among the broadcast crew in a production that was covered like it was the NFL or NASCAR. Unfortunately the fight fizzled.

So now the heavyweight division, which is the one that has always drawn the most appeal in the fight game, is wide open. Maybe Dos Santos is the champ now, but everyone is waiting for Lesnar’s return.

Yes, Lesnar will first fight Alistair Overeem next on Dec. 30, so a lot depends on that outcome. But I would love to see Mir beat Nogueira and eventually get another fight with Lesnar.

You have to believe Mir wants it, too; but first he has to stop the Big Brazilian.

Perry Lefko keeps you connected to all the news in the CFL on Sportsnet.ca.