Mir on Duffee: 'I'm better than he is in every aspect of the game'
One of the true veterans of the sport, it appeared as though Frank Mir's MMA career was on life support by the early stages of 2014.
A loser of four in a row, Mir hadn't looked particularly good in years, his spectacular submission victory over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 140 a mere mirage in a desert of lopsided defeats.
Essentially thrown on the scrap heap, a glimmer of hope emerged in February, when Mir needed less than two minutes to decimate fellow flagging heavyweight Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva.
Now, with his status as relevant heavyweight still very much in doubt, Mir will look to string together consecutive wins for the first time since 2011 when he steps into the cage against Todd Duffee at UFC Fight Night 71 on Wednesday.
"In all the areas, technically," Mir told Sherdog.com about his advantages over Duffee. "Boxing, wrestling, jiu-jitsu, I'm better than he is in every aspect of the game. I think that Todd trains hard in the weight room, and conditions and stuff, but he doesn't really expose himself to spar with different people. Or roll with different individuals."
According to the former UFC heavyweight champion, experience will be a big factor in deciding a winner. A veteran of 11 pro fights, Duffee hasn't had nearly as much cage time as Mir, and his opposition has been in a completely different stratosphere - outside of a bout with Alistair Overeem, it's been less than sterling.
As for why Mir decided to accept a bout against Duffee in the first place, it was all about respect, or, in this case, a lack thereof.
"People calling people out - I call people out," Mir told MMAjunkie.com's Matt Erickson. "You put it out there. At first, I didn't think anything of it. But one of my buddies said, 'You hear what Todd's saying?' I got a little irritated about some of the disrespectful remarks. So I made sure I called up (UFC matchmaker) Joe (Silva) and said I'm more than happy to take this fight.
"There's still a way we can talk to each other and give some kind of credence to someone who's paid their dues, which after 14 years if anyone's paid their dues in this organization, I have."