Former heavyweight champion Frank Mir (11-3) will tangle with Justin McCully (8-3-2) UFC 86 on July 5 in Las Vegas, Nevada, according to an MMAWeekly.com report that MMAmania.com has been able to independently confirm.
Mir is fresh of a big submission win over Brock Lesnar at UFC 81: “Breaking Point” in February. The win — his third in five fights since a return from a potentially career-ending motorcycle accident — vaulted the “Baddest Man on the Planet” back atop the division rankings virtually overnight.
That’s the reality even though Mir defeated an inexperienced (albeit massive) former professional wrestler in Lesnar, as well as an unproved commodity in Antoni Hardonk the fight prior at UFC 74: “Respect” back in August 2007.
Regardless, his confidence is back, and by all accounts, he’s also back in the training room — something he admittedly didn’t do much of while preparing for his initial (and lackluster) comeback matches.
McCully will be coming off a year-long layoff after defeating Antoni Hardonk via unanimous decision at UFC Fight Night 9 back in April 2007. It will mark just the fifth fight for the Team Punishment fighter in the past eight years and only his second appearance inside the Octagon.
“The Insane One” is a Brazilian jiu-jitsu blackbelt under Allan Goes, which makes this appear to be a showdown between two grapplers — Mir is also a jiu-jitsu blackbelt (under Ricardo Pires) and now works with Marc Laimon to refine his technique.
To check out the most recent UFC 86 fight card click here.
74 Comments »
Mir should take this
This must be a quick answer for Frank who was probably going to fight Sylvia again if he resigned with the UFC. I don’t think this match is exciting and how do you build any hype for it. I would have much rather seen him fight Cheik Congo.
This matchup sucks.
3rd baby lol
Mir should take this easy. If they put him against CHUMP
Kongo he’d submit him in 1 round. Kongo has absolutely ZERO ground game
Youch 4th
[quote comment=”397146″]3rd baby lol
Mir should take this easy. If they put him against CHUMP
Kongo he’d submit him in 1 round. Kongo has absolutely ZERO ground game[/quote]Actually, Kongo’s ground game has improved quite a bit…but this is a gimmie for Mir.
McCully was supposed to fight Lesnar. But with Lesnar now fighting Coleman I guess the UFC has decided to put these two guys together.
Ya I agree that Mir should take this one easily!!! McCully isn’t threatening on the feet, this is a similar matchup to Mir vs. Lesnar only less dangerous for Mir. McCully has to take the fight to Mir’s wheelhouse if he is gonna have a shot so that there gives him a HUGE disadvantage. Mir by sub in Rd. 1.
Hearing or Kongo would have been better fight
so does this mean that AA will be fighting for the title if he resigns?
this is so not fair for mir he beats lesner and lesner gets the better fighter how justin has not fought in a year he is weak thats not right if i were mir i wouldnt take cause when he wins it wont boost im up in the rankings
ask your granddaddy to take out a home equity loan for this one. its a no brainer. omg. we’re all going to be rich!
Awww Kongo man!!
heavyweight division blows either way, but this doesnt help the UFC or mir in any way shape or form.
Interesting. Who’s fighting Big Nog then? Arlovski I think! Unless something’s going down with Fedor. Only two options I see…unless UFC makes the mistake of Herring vs Nogueira IV.
I think this is a fight that the UFC needed to put together. If Mir gets past McCully which I think he does then he should be very close to a title shot. Maybe just one more after this and he will be there. It is too bad that the Big Tim is gone I was hoping to see him in with Herring that would have been a good one.
Frank gets three (relatively) easy matchups in a row - and all in his hometown of Las Vegas. Sounds pretty sweet. Oh well, let’s hope this is the one that gets him closer to a title shot.
In thinking about it, I’d really like to see him get back into title contention. Frank has a dynamic personality and would be a popular champ. Not to mention Mir vs. Nog would be a sweet BJJ war!
McCully definitely seems like a step down from Lesnar. I figured to see Mir fighting someone else… maybe Nogeira. Or possibly the winner of Werdum v Vera.
Has Anyone heard any word on Arlovski? With the Heavyweight division thinning out it would be a shame to lose him. His contract was officially over yesterday.
April Fool’s!! Right??!……….Right?????!!!!
Say it ain’t so! Mir vs. Tomato Can McCully??
My guess is that the winner of Werdum-Vera gets the title shot.
They are trying to build Mir up again as the best Heavyweight in the division, groom him, get a few wins and match him up against Nog probably in the end of the year for a big fight. Its the only explanation I can think of. Herring, Kongo or Gonzaga would have been better fights but I think they will throw one of them against Nogueira, Herring again most probably. It really is a weak division with not a lot of marketable fighters, thats why I think they want to build Mir as he is probably the most marketable.
[quote comment=”397163″]so does this mean that AA will be fighting for the title if he resigns?[/quote]Yep..and I think he will re-sign.
Lesnar should have fought McCully right off the bat instead of Mir. McCully may be a top 10 HW by default, but snapping his arm, which Mir will do very easily, does nothing for Mir.
yea cause that matchup makes sense… ufc makes another horrible fight
[quote comment=”397173″]Interesting. Who’s fighting Big Nog then? Arlovski I think! Unless something’s going down with Fedor. Only two options I see…unless UFC makes the mistake of Herring vs Nogueira IV.[/quote]
Nog should should never have to fight herring again that is rediculous how many times does he have to beat the guy no fan wants to see herring/nog ever again
the rubber match is the unwritten rule of how many times fighters should fight each other, st pierre out pointed hughes in the rubber match he goes down as the better fighter at that paticular time in thier careers there should never be hughes gsp 4 this isnt the nhl playoffs best of 7 there are so many good quality fighters who are fighting like twice a year how about ufc fighters being more active for a change instead of the same fighters fighting each other again and again
[quote comment=”397201″]My guess is that the winner of Werdum-Vera gets the title shot.[/quote]
if arlovski gets resigned it will be andrie vs nog. but if not you might be right
this match up is undercard material
this is very disappointing. Had they given Mir a top 6 or 7 HW, with a win he’d be right in line for a title shot, given the lack of depth of the division. But a win over McCully doesn’t move Mir’s rank in the slightest. Oh, and McCully might be top 15 in the UFC by default, but there ain’t no way he’s top 10 (he’s 8-3-2, and just 1-0 in the UFC).
This is either Mania’s April Fools joke on us or it MUST be a sign that AA has re-signed. One could make the argument that the next shot goes to the winner of Werdum/Vera, but that’s still 2 months away. they won’t wait that long to announce the next #1 contender.
How aren’t you fans pissed off about this? The UFC just got down selling us Mir vs. Lesnar as some Huge Co-main event and now the winner of that fight is fighting Justin McCully?
I am furious~
Mir should have fought any of these names:
Kongo
Hearing
Gonzaga
All would be a better fight then this fight which is basically pointless in the heavyweight division. This is a loose/Loose situation for Mir….What does he gain by beating this bum? NOT A DAMN THING!!!!
I thought that Mir’s win over Lesnar would do big things for his career. But appearantly, not yet. Justin McCully is a big step down from Brock Lesnar. That’s right - it is possibly to be a step down from a fighter with a record of 1-1. The only reason that the UFC would be giving Mir an opponent like McCully is to get him a guaranteed win under his belt which would catapoult him into a #1 contender fight.
[quote comment=”397225″][quote comment=”397173″]Interesting. Who’s fighting Big Nog then? Arlovski I think! Unless something’s going down with Fedor. Only two options I see…unless UFC makes the mistake of Herring vs Nogueira IV.[/quote]
Nog should should never have to fight herring again that is rediculous how many times does he have to beat the guy no fan wants to see herring/nog ever again
the rubber match is the unwritten rule of how many times fighters should fight each other, st pierre out pointed hughes in the rubber match he goes down as the better fighter at that paticular time in thier careers there should never be hughes gsp 4 this isnt the nhl playoffs best of 7 there are so many good quality fighters who are fighting like twice a year how about ufc fighters being more active for a change instead of the same fighters fighting each other again and again[/quote]
Just making a point. Who else is there? Nobody. Gabriel Gonzaga just got his ass handed to him, Kongo just lost, Herring has lost to Nog 3 times, Vera vs Werdum in June and now Frank Mir is locked up. Only person left is Arlovski.
Mir got lucky against a noob mma fighter (Lesnar) who was killing him!
Mir is all washed up. Vega Destroyed him.
6 months ago this fight would have been lucky to get aired on UFN 13!
I agree with JJ - they’re just trying to get Mir some momentum because the division’s so thin. They can’t risk having the guy who just beat the next great thing (Lesnar) losing his next match.
[quote comment=”397173″]Interesting. Who’s fighting Big Nog then? Arlovski I think! Unless something’s going down with Fedor. Only two options I see…unless UFC makes the mistake of Herring vs Nogueira IV.[/quote]UFC would not put together Herring/Nog 4…something is about to happen with AA or Fedor.
Im guessing either AA vs Nog or Couture vs Nog.
This is the same Mir that everyone had placed in a grave. Just because he beat BL does not make him ready for the top contenders. As a huge Mir fan, I like this fight. The more mat time he gets before a top fighter the better. This will allow him to gain more confidence, reassurence in his leg, more conditioning for his next fight. He should walk home with this one, but I am still not sold on him being back to champion form.
NEWS: Chuck pissed that Kimbo Slice is getting so much attention.
Chuck says: a checkered past of beating up a “bunch of guys on the street” is the only reason for his popularity.
“Kimbo’s one of those guys who doesn’t have any ground game,”
“People talk about him like he’s the next great thing when he really hasn’t done anything. He’s been built up because of the Internet and him beating a bunch of guys on the street.”
“I could make some impressive knockout videos too if you let me walk outside and just punch people and knock them out — “hey you, come fight!” Liddell told The Sun. “F*** we can make a highlight reel tomorrow and go round beating people up and talking about it. We could just go up to people and start dropping them. Wow!”
[quote comment=”397239″][quote comment=”397225″][quote comment=”397173″]Interesting. Who’s fighting Big Nog then? Arlovski I think! Unless something’s going down with Fedor. Only two options I see…unless UFC makes the mistake of Herring vs Nogueira IV.[/quote]
Nog should should never have to fight herring again that is rediculous how many times does he have to beat the guy no fan wants to see herring/nog ever again
the rubber match is the unwritten rule of how many times fighters should fight each other, st pierre out pointed hughes in the rubber match he goes down as the better fighter at that paticular time in thier careers there should never be hughes gsp 4 this isnt the nhl playoffs best of 7 there are so many good quality fighters who are fighting like twice a year how about ufc fighters being more active for a change instead of the same fighters fighting each other again and again[/quote]
Just making a point. Who else is there? Nobody. Gabriel Gonzaga just got his ass handed to him, Kongo just lost, Herring has lost to Nog 3 times, Vera vs Werdum in June and now Frank Mir is locked up. Only person left is Arlovski.[/quote]
nothing towars you marauder, I just think this match up sucks
IT’S AN APRIL FOOLS JOKE!!!!!!!!! Right? Please? This can’t be for real, McCully almost got submitted by Hardonk…a kickboxer!!! He doesn’t even belong on a ppv undercard fight. WOW!
i soooo agreee with chuck!!
BOOORRRINNGGG!!!
this is crap….no way
Talk about Jo Silva kicking Mir in the balls. This is really exposes how shallow the Heavyweight Division at the UFC has become. They are getting desperate as this is clearly a step back for Mir.
McCully should be fighting Soa Palleli, he got owned by Sanchez and really need to prove himself. McCully would be a great match up.
If Arlovski leaves, Big Nog, Mir, Herring should also leave and create a division with another organisation to make sure all the best HW’s are available to fight each other. This is really becoming a joke.
Dana - if you had and balls or business sense mate, dish out some more cash, lure all the big boys and give the fans what they want to see.
So Frank Mir is the fodder for the animal Brock Lesnar, and he wins. As a reward for that he gets fed this garbage fight which has no upside for him at all.
Dana u better get ur shit together or u will have no one left in the HW division except freaks and fossills. As for the fertitas they would be wise to cut him loose. It is more than obvious that Dana does not have the diplomacy or social skills needed to work with big ego talent like most top fighters are.
If I were Frank Mir I would get the fk out asap. The ufc is not the only game in town anymore people. The Strikeforce Elite xc card on the weekend was almost on par with the ufc ppvs lately and it was FREE. (I have fight network in Canada)
Get your shit together UFC or u will go away.
If I where Dana I would market Mir way better so that after Lesnars hype dies out they at least have a world class fighter to back up..
Come On UFC……..this must be some kind of joke!!!
if not we should all be pissed, Mir should have fought Hearing, I thought for sure that was going to be Mir’s next fight….I feel that all of us fans have just been cheated!
I agree with DOWNUNDER…..Dana fork out some cash or just get rid of the heavyweight division all together.
Attention:
I just manage to sign Fedor to a 4 fight contract to fight in my back yard. His first match up will be this Saturday starting at 10:00 pm against the local Bully! I am sorry to report that I cant get this fight on pay per view on such short notice, but if anyone wants tickets just e-mail me and I am sure I can find you seats in your price range.
The Co-main event will be ricco Rodriguez fighting some local drug dealer…Winner gets an Oz of boogar sugar.
I will have beers, and the Ring girls will be my 2 slutty cousins.
Anyone intersted, just contact me!
i heard this fight as a rumor over a week ago
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I thought this was an April Fool’s joke, but even a matchup this lame wasn’t joke enough.
I say 1st round at 2:55 - Mir by crocodile tear.
[quote comment=”397356″]Attention:
I just manage to sign Fedor to a 4 fight contract to fight in my back yard. His first match up will be this Saturday starting at 10:00 pm against the local Bully! I am sorry to report that I cant get this fight on pay per view on such short notice, but if anyone wants tickets just e-mail me and I am sure I can find you seats in your price range.
The Co-main event will be ricco Rodriguez fighting some local drug dealer…Winner gets an Oz of boogar sugar.
I will have beers, and the Ring girls will be my 2 slutty cousins.
Anyone intersted, just contact me![/quote]
I’m in! I want front row milk crate.
[quote comment=”397356″]Attention:
I just manage to sign Fedor to a 4 fight contract to fight in my back yard. His first match up will be this Saturday starting at 10:00 pm against the local Bully! I am sorry to report that I cant get this fight on pay per view on such short notice, but if anyone wants tickets just e-mail me and I am sure I can find you seats in your price range.
The Co-main event will be ricco Rodriguez fighting some local drug dealer…Winner gets an Oz of boogar sugar.
I will have beers, and the Ring girls will be my 2 slutty cousins.
Anyone intersted, just contact me![/quote]
Sign me up as a replacement if the bully backs out. I would love to open up a can of good ol’ whoop ass on Fedor.
I can’t wait to see how Dana tries to make this sound like something people want to waste 2 minutes of their life on.
honestly frank mir is not that good he should beat mccully but really there just trying to pump him up to make him look like a contender cause they have no one else.the only person frank ever beat was tim and thats cause tim had no respect for frank and got caught,frank has very good bjj skills and thats it he has beat nobody other than tim he barely beat wes simms he beat lesnar but he is a rookie
Yeah typical ufc fight promotion “oh the fans are morons who have never watched this guy fight before, we can total promote this as a major fight.” This kind of shit is starting to really piss me off, quit making these shit fights
[quote comment=”397372″][quote comment=”397356″]Attention:
I just manage to sign Fedor to a 4 fight contract to fight in my back yard. His first match up will be this Saturday starting at 10:00 pm against the local Bully! I am sorry to report that I cant get this fight on pay per view on such short notice, but if anyone wants tickets just e-mail me and I am sure I can find you seats in your price range.
The Co-main event will be ricco Rodriguez fighting some local drug dealer…Winner gets an Oz of boogar sugar.
I will have beers, and the Ring girls will be my 2 slutty cousins.
Anyone intersted, just contact me![/quote]
I’m in! I want front row milk crate.[/quote]
You got it! Dana white is going to be so pissed when he finds out about my new upstart mma organization. Gary Shaw is shaking in his boots because I am in talks with FOX network for a TV deal.
I have managed to sign top welterweight fighter Danny Bonaduce to my company as well. Bonaduce is scheduled to face scott baio on the undercard winner will face Dustin Diamond for the “sleezeball TV Welterweight championship” at my next Backyard Brawl Event!
Also, Blake Bowman make his return to fighting, stay tuned for an opponent!
“Mir got lucky against a noob mma fighter (Lesnar) who was killing him!
Mir is all washed up. Vega Destroyed him.
6 months ago this fight would have been lucky to get aired on UFN 13!”
It is Vera not Vega. And Mir is a bad ass. This fight is garbage. I agree. He should fight Herring .
Justin McCully should never fight in the UFC again. I would rather see Mir face Eddie Sanchez then this idiot…The insane one… Go AWAY!
[quote comment=”397237″]How aren’t you fans pissed off about this? The UFC just got down selling us Mir vs. Lesnar as some Huge Co-main event and now the winner of that fight is fighting Justin McCully?
I am furious~
Mir should have fought any of these names:
Kongo
Hearing
Gonzaga
All would be a better fight then this fight which is basically pointless in the heavyweight division. This is a loose/Loose situation for Mir….What does he gain by beating this bum? NOT A DAMN THING!!!![/quote]
I second this, Mir doesn’t have anything to gain by this unless he does a flying armbar or something to win and get some praise.
McCully has some very respectable ground and pound…. But Im sure any long term MMA fan is hoping to see the grappling maniac we have seen in Frank Mir from years passed.
Mir could take Kongo very easily I think. Kongo has really close to the same fight style of Tim Sylvia, which Mir bitched easily. However, Herring would be a close fight… He too is getting confidence back, and can inflict a lot of damage, and should be if he trims down a bit. Gonzaga I see destroying Mir on their feet, with a slight edge to Mir on the ground, but not by much.
I wanna see Gonzaga fight Herring or Kongo. Gotta get this kid back into the limelight. He has the package, but Werdum was the better man on that might.
[quote comment=”397144″]This matchup sucks.[/quote]
agreed
the heavyweight division is terrible so why not just add on another terrible fight so make that division look worse
so many other guys mir could of faught and they give him mccully give me a break joe silva
This is some sad, sad news. I was happy when i saw Mir, but then I was depressed when I saw who he was fighting. Figured for sure he would be up against someone better then the person he just beat, guess that’s why I’m not Joe Silva though.
WTF!
welcome to the UFC Heavyweight Division….
[quote comment=”397156″]McCully was supposed to fight Lesnar. But with Lesnar now fighting Coleman I guess the UFC has decided to put these two guys together.[/quote]
Coleman….Still can’t get over it…. Da, da, d, d, da da, d, d, dah dah. AKA Circus music. Hope Coleman smashes him.
[quote comment=”397462″][quote comment=”397372″][quote comment=”397356″]Attention:
I just manage to sign Fedor to a 4 fight contract to fight in my back yard. His first match up will be this Saturday starting at 10:00 pm against the local Bully! I am sorry to report that I cant get this fight on pay per view on such short notice, but if anyone wants tickets just e-mail me and I am sure I can find you seats in your price range.
The Co-main event will be ricco Rodriguez fighting some local drug dealer…Winner gets an Oz of boogar sugar.
I will have beers, and the Ring girls will be my 2 slutty cousins.
Anyone intersted, just contact me![/quote]
I’m in! I want front row milk crate.[/quote]
You got it! Dana white is going to be so pissed when he finds out about my new upstart mma organization. Gary Shaw is shaking in his boots because I am in talks with FOX network for a TV deal.
I have managed to sign top welterweight fighter Danny Bonaduce to my company as well. Bonaduce is scheduled to face scott baio on the undercard winner will face Dustin Diamond for the “sleezeball TV Welterweight championship” at my next Backyard Brawl Event!
Also, Blake Bowman make his return to fighting, stay tuned for an opponent![/quote]
I’ll bring a handful of pre rolled blunts and a couple of slabs of VB aka Victoria Bitter aka what we are wheened on in Melbourne Australia. Trust me you’ll love it!
umm… mmamania i think there is a typo, you said that mccully is a BRazilian JIUJITSU Blackbelt. is this really true? and if so WTF MAN!
[quote comment=”397240″]Mir got lucky against a noob mma fighter (Lesnar) who was killing him!
Mir is all washed up. Vega Destroyed him.
6 months ago this fight would have been lucky to get aired on UFN 13![/quote]
There was nothing lucky about Mir beating Lesnar. Watch the fight again, he was looking for that leg at least twice before he secured it. Frank definitely isn’t going to move up in the ranks this way.
I’m confused by this one - doesn’t seem to help in any way. There were many potential matchups that make more sense:
mir v. herring
mir v. arlovski (if avial)
mir v. gonzoga
had frank won any of those, he would have been near the top of the admittedly depleted ufc hw contenders list. I confess I am on his jock (mir the fighter and persona, the wec interviewer not so much) and loved watching all the wwe/wwf/ww whatever honks leaving the sports bar after frank ripped the tendons out of lesners knee. Someone please tell me this was a joke.
i hope he gets a title shot soon,maybe after 2 more wins. i will be really disappointed if the UFC makes Big Nog vs. herring 4.
Arlovski would have been far more intresting opponent for Mir but with the contract situation thats not gonn happen.
i guess the Vera vs Werdum fight is for #1 contender. i like both of these fighters , so whoever wins is a better than seeing herring again.
Mc Cully is a great matchup for Mir, they are both bjj black belts which means they’ll probably stand up and bang. This fight will prove how good Mir really is. Being one of Mc Cullys students ill tell you that Mir is not gonna have it that easy on the ground or on his feet. He”ll have to stand up and big with Mc Cully, and if he is getting the worst of it, he wont be able to take him down and dominate like hes done in the past with guys who could bang but had no ground game. GO COACH MC CULLY