Roundtables
UFC 146 ROUNDTABLE: Predictions for Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir Championship bout
May 26, 2012 - 3:45:00 PM UFC 146 ROUNDTABLE: Predictions for Junior dos Santos vs. Frank Mir Championship bout

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Who wins the JDS vs. Frank Mir title bout, and how?

RICH HANSEN, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

Mir is a lot of things; fast ain't one of them. And if he wants to fight on his feet against the fastest striker in the division, he's going to see stars when he wakes up. I'm not being a prophet when I say that he has to get the fight to the mat to have any shot at winning the fight. That said, I don't really know how Mir gets the fight down. Lost in his magnificent arm-snapping win over Nogueira is the fact that Old Man Nogueira lit Mir up in the striking game. Nog's a good striker, but he's also a hell of a lot slower than dos Santos (no, really). Mir's best way to get JDS down might to get knocked down, but if your game plan is to get punched by JDS until you fall, and then ward him off while planning a submission, um... JDS by TKO in the second.


FRANK HYDEN, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

To be quite honest, I think dos Santos beats the piss of Mir. Frank Mir is an illusion. His two wins over Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira both came after Nogueira was far past his prime due to the punishment he's absorbed over his career. He got a knockout win over Cro-Cop, who was also a shell of his former self, in one of the worst main events in UFC history. I'll give him credit for a nice submission win over Cheick Kongo 2.5 years ago, then he got a decision win over Roy Nelson. During this time, Mir got knocked out by Shane Carwin, and took a tremendous ass-kicking from Brock Lesnar. This kind of track record shouldn't inspire confidence. If Mir gets out of the first round against JDS, it's a huge surprise. If Mir somehow were to beat JDS, that's the upset of the year. I think JDS knocks out Mir in the first round, probably within the first two minutes.


ANWAR PEREZ, MMATORCH COLUMNIST

I like both fighters and this fight more than JDS against Overreem. The fight may have changed, but not the outcome. I see JDS finishing off Mir in the second round. Mir will get cocky in standing with JDS, and pay dearly for it.


ERIC HOBAUGH, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

JDS by knock out in the second round. Mir has had trouble with elite strikers and JDS is the best pure striker in the heavyweight division. If he can take JDS down he can win. No one has been able to take him down and I do not think that Mir is a good enough wrestler to get JDS down. If Shane Carwin, Cain Valazquez, Roy Nelson or Gabriel Gonzaga could not take dos Santos down, I think that Mir won't be able to either.


BRAD WALKER, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

JDS KOs Mir before they even enter the cage. No seriously. Mir for some reason decides he's a striker when hes facing a striker and pays for it more often than not. I don't see him winning this fight if he tries to prove his savvy on the feet. If this fight takes place on the ground then Mir has an increasingly better chance to win. But in the end I honestly have to pick Junior dos Santos by KO in the early rounds because Frank Mir will inevitably try to bang with him for three seconds too many.


ALEX WILLIAMS, MMATORCH CONTRIBUTOR

Junior Dos Santos stops Frank Mir in the first round with strikes.


DAN MOORE, MMATORCH UK CONTRIBUTOR

I've underestimated Frank Mir before, and been left with egg on my face. I thought Lesnar would beat him comfortably at UFC 81, and I also had Big Nog as a top pick to beat him at UFC 140. On both occasions he proved his elite BJJ skills cannot be taken lightly, not even for a second. Sadly for Mir, though, I don't think the fight will go to the ground at all. JDS is just too good in the stand up, and he'll comfortably win by KO, in either the first, or second round.


JASON AMADI, MMATORCH COLUMNIST
  
I don't really even feel like "making the case" for Frank Mir here. He's dangerous and he could beat anyone in the heavyweight division on any given night, but we all know who the pick is here.
I like Junior dos Santos by knockout, either late in the first round or early in the second.

[Junior dos Santos art by Grant Gould (c) MMATorch Editor-in-Chief