By Jamie McAllister
Frank Mir comments in an interview with MMAFighting.

In his last bout he attempted to take the UFC Heavyweight Title from Champion Junior Dos Santos. Mir was unsuccessful in his challenge being knocked out in the second round, in his next bout he will attempt to dethrone the Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Daniel Cormier.

“They came to me. I pretty much took the summer off. I was hanging out at the time with the kids and I got a phone call and was presented with an opportunity, that, you know, coming off of a loss, makes a lot of sense to me and it seems like a positive step forward.”

Mir does not see the move over to Strikeforce as a step down and did not hesitate when offered the Cormier bout.

“No, they are owned by the same, ZUFFA, one is on pay-per-view (PPV) and one is on Showtime. I don’t really see it as a step down as far as competition. Cormier is a top competitor and he has shown that in his last couple of fights. Like I said, I was coming off a loss and fighting for the title in Strikeforce, to me, it’s a way to stepping up the ranks again quickly. I was asked, and I was like, ‘Sure.’ I didn’t see much of a negative.”

In his last bout Cormier defeated Josh Barnett in the final of the Strikeforce Heavyweight GP. The win moved Cormier to (10-0) in his MMA career and Mir admits he will have to be at the top of his game to defeat the decorated wrestler.

“The Barnett win actually impressed me extremely. Cormier obviously has an extremely strong wrestling background. I don’t think it takes a genius to figure that out. And then his striking has been coming along. I was kind of curious to see how he would do against submissions, and there was a couple times, one that I can remember right now when there was a pretty legitimate attempt on his leg, and he didn’t panic and had the defense to get out of it. And so, I feel that he’s a very dangerous opponent. I still feel that I have to pick his game apart. I think that if we fight each other, I’d have the advantage in striking and submissions, but as far as whether the fight stays on the feet or goes down, I don’t think I’m going to have much of a choice. Wherever he wants to fight me, I’m going to have to be prepared for all areas.”

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