THE CANADIAN PRESS
LAS VEGAS — Frank Mir and Roy (Big Country) Nelson may live in the same city but the two heavyweights look worlds apart.
At six foot three and 270 pounds, Mir is a freezer-sized slab of muscle. His shirt is a size-19 neck — "and I have a hard time closing it."
The six-foot Nelson is listed at a roly-poly 263 pounds with a belly that looks like it spends more time propping up a bar than a mixed martial arts opponent.
But Mir remains just a slight favourite when the two Las Vegas natives square off Saturday in the co-main event of UFC 130 at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.
"A lot of people underestimate him," Mir, a former UFC champion, said of Nelson. "He’s a very tough guy. He has decent power in his punches."
The two heavyweights were a study in contrast at the pre-fight news conference Wednesday. Mir (14-5) was elegantly packaged in a natty suit and open-neck shirt (see above) while a scruffy Nelson (16-5) wore a T-shirt with the top of his flowing mullet stuffed in a baseball cap.
Mir, 32, and Nelson, 34, went to nearby high schools in Vegas but Mir says he first caught wind of Nelson was when they joined rival gyms 150 metres away in 1999-2000.
Today they are friends, but not bosom buddies.
"I like Roy, I think he has a very intelligent outlook on a lot of things," said Mir.
"But I’m not going to lie to anybody, we’re not the best of friends. But we have a lot of mutual friends that are very close."
Like their wives. And one of Mir’s groomsmen will be in Nelson’s corner Saturday night.
"That kind of makes it a bit awkward," Mir said.
Nelson makes it sound like it’s not much of a problem at all.
"As for us being close, I’ve never eaten at Frank’s house. So that shows how close friends we are. I’ve known him for 11 years," he said, adding he would never fight a friend.
Clearly, neither fighter has a problem hitting each other.
"If my wife were to get in the ring with me, I would try to knock her out and choke her unconscious," Mir said, drawing laughs from reporters. "No problem, I would flip the switch instantly.
"Trust me Roy’s going to try to knock my head off. I’m going to try to knock his head off," he added. "And if I can catch him in a choke, I want him to go to sleep and I guarantee you he would like to take my arm and put it on his mantle."
Mir, who lost to Nelson on points in a 2003 grappling contest, has never tapped in the UFC.
And with UFC fighters generally matching their basic purse with a win bonus, there’s plenty of incentive to be the last one punching.
"If someone tried to rob you for half your paycheque … you’d be pretty upset about the situation," Mir said.
"At the end of the day I have more obligation to my children going to private school then I do putting anybody else’s kids through private school," he added.
Both Mir and Nelson are dangerous black belts in Brazilian jiu-jitsu. Mir broke Tim Sylvia’s arm in an armbar at UFC 48 in 2004 while Nelson often uses his bulk effectively to control opponents on the ground.
Mir and Nelson see the winner of Saturday’s fight as the solid No. 2 contender in the heavyweight ranks, with No. 1 to be decided June 11 in Vancouver when Junior Dos Santos and Shane Carwin square off at UFC 130 to see who fights champion Cain Velasquez.
Brock Lesnar waits in the wings, depending on his battle with diverticulitis. A rubber match between Mir and Lesnar would be a doozy, given the sparks the first two fights raised.
Nelson, meanwhile, is coming off a knee injury suffered in a loss by decision to Dos Santos last time out. He was slated to meet Carwin in January but his opponent suffered a neck injury.
Nelson likes to play up his pear shape, sometimes rubbing his ample belly after a win. Asked whether he liked fighting in his home town, he pointed to the food options in the city that never sleeps.
"We’re in Vegas, everything’s open 24/7," he said with a smile. "So you can go get burgers at any time of the day. You can get it at night."
Mir has a theory about Nelson’s gut.
Nelson, he reasons, is at a disadvantage if his opponent catches him in a front headlock when he shoots in at the waist for a takedown.
"So not only is he carrying my weight, but he’s carrying that belly bent over a fulcrum. That does have a limiting factor."
But Mir says despite the stomach, Nelson is a "very well-conditioned athlete."
Maintaining muscle consumes more oxygen than fat tissue, says Mir, who reckons Nelson is actually a 220-pounder carrying an extra 40 pounds of fat.
"If he was 260 pounds and jacked, he would actually be worse off for his cardio. … I’ve seen a lot of guys that have a little bit of fat on them still have very good cardio. I’ve seen a lot of guys that have shaved forearms and veins coming out of their deltoids whose cardio sucks."
Mir, who weighed 248 pounds when he fought Pete Williams in 2002 in the UFC, says his body has just filled out as he has grown older. Plus, years of wrestling have built up his neck and shoulders.
Mir told reporters his wife gave him the gears about his body change while watching Mel Gibson in "Mad Max" recently.
"She said ‘Look how thin his neck is? It’s like you.’ We were looking at a picture, she was teasing me. ‘You had a pencil neck."’
While Mir debuted in the UFC in 2001, it took Nelson a lot longer to join him. He fought in the IFL, Bodog and other circuits before eventually making his way to the Octagon by winning Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter," defeating Kimbo Slice and Brendan Schaub in the process.
"I always felt that Roy would have a harder time going into the UFC just because sometimes he doesn’t like to work within the system, (he has) a little bit of an authority issue," Mir said. "Sometimes it causes waves."
Mir also pointed out that Nelson has lost four times outside the UFC.
"I can’t imagine not being undefeated outside the UFC," said Mir, noting he beat former Pride stars Mirko (Cro Cop) Filipovic and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Both Mir and Nelson have their own gyms, although Nelson runs his out of his own home. Mir also has his own Suffer line of MMA training equipment.
Nelson says Mir has the edge over him when it comes to the business side of MMA.
"I’m kind of more the blue collar (type). I’m the worker bee."
Nelson says he is just competitive and has a "champion’s spirit."
"I think I have a little bit different heart and demeanour than a lot of other fighters in our division."
Nelson is undeniably hard to stop — only Andrei Arlovski has stopped him by TKO. He took a lot of punishment from Dos Santos, bending but never breaking. And when the fight was over, the Brazilian knew he had been in a fight when he looked into a mirror.
After taking a pounding in the first round, a defiant Nelson walked to his corner and gave UFC president Dana White a thumbs up.
"It was just like ‘I hope you’re excited. I’m ready for Round 2."’
