Back in Dec. 2008, Frank Mir knocked out Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in Las Vegas. It was the first time "Minotauro" had ever been stopped via strikes in his illustrious career and perhaps because of that, the legendary Brazilian's fans wondered if something was holding back their hero.
As it turned out, "Big Nog" had been suffering from staph in the weeks leading up to the bout and spent time in the hospital recovering from it. Can that be blamed for his performance?
We'll never truly know but we will find out who the better man is tonight (Sat., Dec. 10, 2011) at UFC 140 in Toronto when the two square off in the rematch. And this time, both men are healthy and raring to go.
In fact, because of the way his victory was handled the first time, Mir wants to win in even more devastating fashion:
"That victory almost kind of makes you, you know, it takes away that edge in training where you're vicious about it. The reason why I didn't fall victim to that I think is because of the fact of all his fanbase saying that he was injured and he had staph or what not, I think has added a little bit of fire into me to where, even after having the win, I just wasn't satisfied enough with that win and I'm looking to go ahead and have an even more devastating win."
So what happens in the second act? A repeat of the first or a happy ending for Nogueira and his legions of adoring fans? We'll find out tonight.
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