| 22 February 2010
Dana White needs to suspend Frank Mir immediately for his recent comments about Brock Lesnar. In case you haven't heard, Mir told WXDX radio in Pittsburgh that he wants to break Lesnar's neck in the ring and wants him to be the first death in the Octagon due to injuries. Mir is a smart man and these statements weren't made in the heat of the moment - he said he wanted to let everyone know what he was really thinking. This, clearly, is not a man you can trust to put into the cage and play by the rules.
Mir's obsession with Lesnar was creepy at first, but now it has gone way past that into frightening territory. He truly has murderous rage for Lesnar. And for this, Dana White can not let Mir back into the Octagon until he proves that he is mentally stable. There are numerous reasons for this, the most obvious being that you can't trust Mir to not go out of his way to hurt someone in the cage. MMA is all about respect and trust - fighters have to respect the rules of the game and trust that their opponent will obey the referee and not continue to pummel them or keep a submission hold locked in after the ref calls a stop to the match. If a guy Mir's size decides to keep a hold locked in, no UFC ref is going to be big enough to stop him. So, basically, he really could break someone's neck and kill them if giving the opportunity and he is so inclined (which, apparently, he is).
Other than the obvious danger of having a fighter looking to kill his opponent, there is also the public relations disaster that comments like Mir's cause the sport. MMA is struggling to get itself sanctioned in some areas and is still trying to prove that they have moved beyond their "everything goes" past. But Mir's comments just gave the sport's detractors more ammunition and basically proved their point about why MMA should be banned. Plus, if Dana White is serious about trying to make MMA the biggest sport in the world in 10 years like he has stated, he has to start policing his athletes like other sports do. Mir wouldn't go unpunished in any other mainstream sport - the same must be the case here. The UFC have worked too long and too hard to claw out their place in the sporting world - they can't let Mir ruin all of that.
So pull Mir from his UFC 111 bout with Shane Carwin and deny him the chance to rematch Lesnar until he goes through counselling and/or a psychological exam. That gives the UFC a month to find another opponent for Carwin or they could just name him the number one contender and have him face Lesnar when the champ is ready. But these are just minor headaches - if Frank Mir's actions are left unchecked they could be facing much bigger ones in the future.
UPDATE: Here's the audio of the radio interview.
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