Mir injured, but Lesnar rematch still on

COLUMBUS, Ohio – The heavyweight title unification bout between champion Brock Lesnar and interim champ Frank Mir at UFC 98 on May 23 remains on despite arthroscopic surgery performed on Mir’s right knee earlier this week.

Fiveouncesofpain.com initially reported Friday that the bout was off because of a back injury sustained by Mir. It later corrected that to say it was a knee injury. And then MMAWeekly.com reported Mir had knee surgery.

UFC president Dana White said after the weigh-in for UFC 96 at the Nationwide Arena that he knew nothing of an injury by Mir. Mir and manager Dean Albrecht did not return messages.

“I don’t know anything about it, so I honestly couldn’t tell you anything about it,” White said of Mir’s injury and the report that the fight was off. “I’m not too worried about it now. If that were the situation, I’d know about it. I honestly don’t know right now. I haven’t talked to Frank and I haven’t talked to Lesnar and if that’s the situation, I’m not going to make any statements until I talk to everybody.”

But a source in Las Vegas close to Mir said his knee began swelling excessively last week after a workout. After an examination, Mir had arthroscopic surgery to “clean up” the knee.

Mir won the interim title from Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in December despite a training camp that was filled with injuries. Mir’s back was bothering him and he received frequent treatment on it in an attempt to enable him to compete.

An alternative would be to push the title bout back to UFC 100 on July 11 in Las Vegas, but White said because he had no information, he couldn’t comment.