Alistair Overeem recently declared that if he loses to Frank Mir at their upcoming UFC 169 fight on Feb 1. 2013 in Newark, New Jersey, then he better start thinking about "doing something else" with his life.
After all, coming up short against the former two-time UFC heavyweight champion would mark his third straight defeat inside the Octagon and bring his record to an unimpressive 1-3 since making his UFC debut in 2011.
Great minds fighters think alike.
During a recent appearance on "The MMA Hour," Mir lays out what could be ahead for him, should he get cut by UFC if he's the one on the losing end over the 2014 Super Bowl weekend.
A loss that would mark his fourth straight.
And his plans don't include fighting for another mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion, but rather not fighting at all.
Mir explains:
"I think it just depends on how much we are able to draw. I've always tried to help in that argument. When people ask for certain explanations on why certain guys get title shots and some guys don't, I've always told people this is a business. It isn't so much who has a 30-0 record, but if no one wants to come watch you fight, then it doesn't matter. As far as if the UFC is willing to release us ... I find it hard to believe that they would let Alistair be picked up by another organization. I still think he can sell a ton of tickets. As for myself, I keep my opinions, I guess. I don't know, I guess I'll have to see if, I don't know, what I'm selling afterwards. No, I wasn't (thinking of retirement). Obviously, I have no real desire to fight for another organization, so if I were to be let go, I think that would be a huge step in the form of retirement."
Indeed, Frank, much like Alistair, has seen better days inside the cage.
After reeling off three straight victories over Mirko Filipovic, Roy Nelson and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira from 2010 to 2011, which earned him a title shot against Junior dos Santos at UFC 146, Mir has suffered three consecutive losses to Daniel Cormier, Josh Barnett and the aforementioned "Cigano."
While Dana White stopped short of labeling this heavyweight clash a "loser leaves town" bout, the Las Vegas fight boss wasn't shy about saying that maybe both competitor's careers could be winding down. For Mir, it seems retirement is a much better option than fighting for another organization. After all, of his 24 professional fights, 22 of them have been inside the Octagon.
Furthermore, Mir is the proud owner of many records in the UFC's 265-pound division, which includes most fights, most wins and most finishes; so you can see why he wouldn't want to tarnish his legacy by fighting and possibly losing in a lesser-known fight promotion.
The hard-hitting heavyweights were initially set to scrap at UFC 167 on Nov. 16, 2013, but the higher ups decided to move the bout to February of 2014 to allow more time for them to prepare and will now serve as co-main event to the light heavyweight title fight between division kingpin Jon Jones and division kingpin Glover Teixeira.
Will it be the last time we ever see Mir lace up the gloves?