Frank Mir did not take his decision to come back lightly. After a unanimous decision loss to Alistair Overeem in February, the former UFC heavyweight champion gave himself plenty of time before he came to the conclusion that he would return to fighting.
Mir, who has lost four straight, told Ariel Helwani on this past Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour that he did consider retirement for a time.
Read more from original source
The last time fight fans saw Jamie Varner, he was struggling to stay upright while somehow — amazingly — continuing to mount desperation offense against James Krause last May. This, despite the fact that Varner suffered a bad brake in his left ankle and several torn ligaments in his left foot.
Varner ultimately lost the fight due to doctor’s stoppage at the conclusion of the first round, but despite his now three-fight losing streak, UFC officials were impressed enough with the grittiness of the former WEC lightweight champ to bring him back, as Varner has been scheduled to challenge Drew Dober at UFC on FOX 13 in his hometown of Phoenix, AZ.
Read more from original source
Based on preliminary numbers, it’s hard to come to a conclusion as to what it meant for Bellator and UFC to go head-to-head on Friday night, past that it doesn’t appear either hurt the other significantly, and that each product looks to have more of its own audience as opposed to an audience that switched back-and-forth.
Overall, the UFC show from Ledyard, Conn., headlined by Ronaldo “Jacare” Souza’s win over Gegard Mousasi, did 911,000 viewers on average between when the main card started at 10 p.m. and the conclusion of the main event. That number was well ahead of what UFC had done the previous two Saturday nights with a Benson Henderson vs. Rafael dos Anjos led UFC Fight Night (689,000) and the UFC 177 prelims (an unusually low 436,000). Even with the competition, it was well ahead of what they average on either Saturdays or Wednesdays. It was also a show with more familiar names — like Alistair Overeem, Ben Rothwell, Matt Mitrione and Joe Lauzon – than most Fight Nights, so it should have done better than average.
Read more from original source
