Why can't we be friends? Why can't we be friends?
Former Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) Heavyweight titleholder Frank Mir is in the midst of a complete career revival.
And it's possible his best act is yet to come.
Mir, 36, currently owns a two-fight win streak -- a far cry from the winless (0-4) downhill spiral he suffered through over a 21-month period between 2012 to 2014.
Now he is in charge of dispatching a fellow streaking Heavyweight, Andrei Arlovski, who is on the up-and-up, too, thanks to a recent knockout of Travis Browne (watch that fight here) at UFC 187 back in May, in the co-main event of UFC 191, which takes place tonight (Sat. Sept. 5, 2015) inside MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
If Mir were to take out Arlovski -- who he was originally tapped to face 10 years ago (it didn't happen because of this) -- then he and his long-time coach Ricky Lundell plan to ask for another shot at gold.
"One-hundred percent, we will be speaking about a title shot," Lundell told MMAFighting.com. "It would be Cain Velasquez or Fabricio Werdum. Who doesn't want to see Frank Mir against either one of them? We definitely want that fight and we're going to go get it. We just have to get through this weekend."
A showdown with the winner of the looming Werdum vs. Velasquez title rematch is a long ways away for Mir, a two-time division champion.
The Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist's mixed martial arts (MMA) career has transcended multiple UFC eras. Over the course of his 14-year run in UFC, Mir has tackled massive men (Brock Lesnar) and soundly defeated Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira twice, but he also dropped disappointing bouts to former and current champions Junior dos Santos and Daniel Cormier.
He heard from keyboard warriors around the globe and overhauled his strength and conditioning program after years of overtraining. As Mir has it, he's "the best he's ever been."
First-round knockout wins over Antonio Silva and Todd Duffee have dispelled calls for retirement from fans -- and his boss Dana White -- and placed him square inside the Heavyweight title picture with Arlovski.
The Belarusian bomber is also in the middle of his own Cinderella run, downing Browne, Silva and Schaub in succession since his UFC return in June 2014. Arlovski went through his own losing skid in the defunct Affliction and Strikeforce promotions between 2009-2011, getting KTFO'd by men like Fedor Emelianenko and Brett Rogers.
"I think it's really exciting that both Frank and Andrei are back in this spot," said Lundell. "They've both put in a lot of time and they've both taken the time to learn the new tricks necessary to get back to the title shot."
Where Mir has failed in the past is against, well, strikers and grapplers alike. He's been taken to task by more highly touted stand-up fighters like dos Santos and former K-1 kickboxer Alistair Overeem.
Arlovski -- the owner of 17 career knockouts -- will be another stiff test for the Nevada native, who has shown he has solid boxing skills in the past against Nogueira back at UFC 92 in Dec. 2008, but it's a new day and a new Mir.
"Frank Mir, the question behind Frank Mir was how was his stand up going to adhere to that title shot again? Is he just going to get pushed against the wall and get beat? I believe we've answered that question now," Lundell said.
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