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<h3><a href="/go=news.detail&gid=453917" target="_blank">
Mir: Heavyweight division best it's ever been
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<p>Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir debuted in the promotion in 2001, and has seen the development of the division so close it bleeds on him, literally. In a recent interview with <a href="https://twitter.com/DamonMartin" target="_blank">Damon Martin</a> for <a href="http://www.foxsports.com/ufc/story/ufc-191-frank-mir-the-heavyweight-division-has-never-been-better-than-right-now-082815" target="_blank">FOX Sports</a>, Mir said the division is the best it has ever been.</p>
"I think this era right now is the best it's ever been," said Mir.
"I think in the past we always had top level guys but I think it dwindled off after four or five. Right now there's guys that are 12th, 13th, 14th, that are great fighters in the heavyweight division."
"I think the top 10 right now is extremely stacked. And I think it's the most stacked it's ever been."
Mir fights fellow former UFC heavyweight champion Andrei Arlovski in the co-main event of UFC 191 on September 5, 2015, at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada.
UFC Top 10
Champion : Fabricio Werdum
1 Cain Velasquez
2 Junior Dos Santos
3 Stipe Miocic
4 Andrei Arlovski
5 Travis Browne
6 Ben Rothwell
7 Mark Hunt
8 Josh Barnett
9 Alistair Overeem
10 Frank Mir
11 Antonio Silva
12 Roy Nelson
13 Matt Mitrione
14 Stefan Struve
15 Alexey Oliynyk
So if Fedor comes to the UFC and they give him mir, arlovski, Bigfoot or overeem does he immediately come in with a set rank, or just unranked vs one of the top 10 HW's? Can't remember how they did that with Brock.
It is deep and just getting deeper. I have to wonder if the days of a long reigning heavyweight champ are a thing of the past. With the crazy KO power some of these guys have it's one mistake and you are done.
Ozamataz Buckshank - So if Fedor comes to the UFC and they give him mir, arlovski, Bigfoot or overeem does he immediately come in with a set rank, or just unranked vs one of the top 10 HW's? Can't remember how they did that with Brock.
IIRC Brock's UFC debut was before the official UFC rankings started.
It's also interesting how HW seems to be the only division that isn't very wrestling oriented in the strictest sense.
Cain, Stipe and DC have done well at HW as guys who are primarily Olympic/Collegiate wrestlers. Then Josh Barnett has his catch wrestling background of course too.
But if you look at the success of HW guys who are not know primarily as wrestlers (from Werdum, JDS, AA, Bigfoot, Mir, Nelson, Hunt, Reem, Struve) it really seems to be the division where TDD goes a long way rather than all out wrestling credentials. I'm not sure why. Maybe it's just the strength factor or the heavy hands that can keep opponents at bay.
