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Andrei Arlovski Faces a More Dangerous Frank Mir at UFC 191 Than He Would Have a Decade Ago

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The UFC heavyweight division has seen champions and contenders come and go. Some have disappeared from the sport like Tim Sylvia and Brock Lesnar, while others, who were previously written off, have reemerged.

Former champions Andrei Arlovski and Frank Mir have ascended from irrelevancy back into title contention after their careers seemed to be on life support in the not-so-distant past.

On September 5, the two will co-headline the UFC 191 pay-per-view in a fight that was planned more than a decade ago.

Mir won the heavyweight title at UFC 48 in June 2004 when he snapped Tim Sylvia’s arm with an armbar just 50 seconds into their title fight. A motorcycle accident three months later prevented the Las Vegas native from defending his belt.

While Mir recovered from a broken femur and damage to all the ligaments in his knee, Arlovski became the interim champion. The fight promotion planned to pit the two against each other in a title unification bout in October 2005, but Mir wasn’t ready to return and was stripped of his title.

On Saturday, the two will finally face off and Arlovski believes Mir’s a much more dangerous fighter now than he was 10 years ago.

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“At that time, and I still have a lot of respect for Frank, at that time, he was just dangerous on the ground because he is a black belt. Now he wants to fight and he fights very dangerous standing, so I have to keep in mind also he is not only a black belt and also has the power to knock people out. So I have to be ready for this as well,” said Arlovski during the UFC 191 media conference call.

“It is going to be an honor to fight Frank because I am extremely happy for him. Frank and I, we’re like old school fighters. He is climbing back on the top right now, I’m number four, and I’m very excited for that fight and I’m sure the fans are too,” added the 36-year-old. “It’s an honor to face Frank in the co-main event at UFC 191 in Vegas.”

After suffering four consecutive losses, Mir took a year off from fighting and returned in February 2015 against Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva. With his career hanging in the balance, Mir scored a first-round knockout and earned a Performance of the Night bonus. In July, he did the same thing to Todd Duffee. Mir the knockout artist surprised and impressed “The Pit Bull.”

“I was so surprised and, like I said, he’s not only dangerous right now on the ground, he also has great boxing skills,” said Arlovski. “Yes, it was impressive for me and I just need to keep in mind he can throw punches. He can throw combos and I just need to keep my hands up all the time.

“It’s different than last time it was 10, 15 years ago.”

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