Frank Mir 'a little shocked' by Arlovski's win, asked corner if he got dropped

Frank Mir believes that he defeated Andrei Arlovski at UFC 191, and he wants a rematch. The veteran heavyweights engaged in a fairly even affair in the co-headlining bout of the pay-per-view card earlier this month, and while Mir concedes the close nature of the bout, he says he was a little shocked that he wasn't given the nod. In fact, he even asked his corner if he had been dropped in the fight and he just didn't remember it.

Mir was a recent guest on Chael Sonnen's podcast, and gave his thoughts on the bout (transcribed by David St. Martin of MMA Fighting):

"I think it was a close fight. I don't think it was one-sided. I thought the first round edged out close to him. In the second round I was able to force him against the cage and take him down and was on top for a while until he basically stalled out and just held on and got the referee to start the fight over. I don't think that's a tactic that should be rewarded. Just hold on and hope the referee saves you and gets you standing on your feet. I think that should deduct points in the eyes of the judges.

"At the end of the fight, in my mind, in the second and third rounds it was back and forth in the stand up exchanges but I scored a knock down and I was on top working for submissions. 'I'm definitely going to get the nod.'"

"When the judges' scores came out the way they did I was a little shocked," said Mir. "I've always seen guys that get hit really hard in fights and dropped and they don't realize it until after the fight. You'll see [UFC commentator] Joe Rogan argue with them. 'OK, you were out here.' 'No I wasn't.' So when I went back to my corner I asked them, 'Did I get knocked down? Do I not remember it? Did I get hit harder than I got hit?'

"They were like, 'No man, you weren't down.' What the heck's going on here? Sometimes, in the fight, things go differently than you imagined. 'He was down twice, right? Different rounds?' You just shrug your shoulders. Even walking to the back, the commission guys were looking at me shaking their heads."

He thinks the rematch is the logical way to go, considering how the rest of the division is booked:

"Right now, the only logical conclusion I can draw is to push for a rematch," said Mir. "I know this has had to have put a hold on Arlovski's forward momentum. It's put a hold on mine so I think the only way to really help each other out is that we fight again so we can have a much more conclusive victor. He got the decision but I think the majority of people think I won the fight. Neither one of us is really moving forward."

This is unlikely to happen due to the entertainment value of the first bout, but Mir does make some reasonable points here overall.