‘Shocked’ Mir wants Arlovski rematch
Andrei Arlovski, right, fights Frank Mir during their heavyweight mixed martial arts bout at UFC 191 on Saturday, Sept. 5, 2015, in Las Vegas. AP FILE PHOTO
A disgruntled Frank Mir knew very well his fight against Andrei Arlovski could have gone either way, but his unanimous decision loss in UFC 191 was one tough pill to swallow.
Mir expressed his frustration to fellow fighter Chael Sonnen in the latter’s podcast saying the Sept. 5 fight wasn’t a lopsided victory for Arlovski.
“I think it was a close fight,” Mir told Sonnen, as per MMAFighting.com. “I don’t think it was one-sided. I thought the first round edged out close to him. In the second round, I was able to force him against the cage and take him down and was on top for a while until he basically stalled out and just held on and got the referee to start the fight over.”
Mir added Arlovski’s “tactic” shouldn’t have been considered in Arlovski’s victory, instead it should have deducted points off the Belarusian.
Nevada judges scored the fight 29-28, 29-28, 30-27 all in favor of Arlovski.
“When the judges’ scores came out the way they did, I was a little shocked,” said Mir. “I’ve always seen guys that get hit really hard in fights and dropped and they don’t realize it until after the fight,” Mir said.
He added he asked his corner for a double-take of the fight as he wasn’t sure if he got knocked down to merit the loss.
With the top of the UFC Heavyweight division booked, Mir said the only logical thing to do is to push for a rematch.
“Right now, the only logical conclusion I can draw is to push for a rematch,” the former UFC Heavyweight champion said. “I know this has had to have put a hold on Arlovski’s forward momentum. It’s put a hold on mine so I think the only way to really help each other out is that we fight again so we can have a much more conclusive victor. He got the decision but I think the majority of people think I won the fight. Neither one of us is really moving forward.” Bong Lozada, INQUIRER.net
