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Why Frank Mir-Andrei Arlovski fight at UFC 191 will be well worth the wait

LAS VEGAS – Professional athletes routinely have short careers, and their window of time at the top, if they ever get there, is tiny.

Only the greatest of the greats manage to reach the top and stay there for a considerable length of time.

In fighting, once that inevitable decline begins, that's normally it. The fighter usually faces a painful road to retirement, one with lots of lumps, bumps, pain and disappointment.

And that's how the careers of former UFC heavyweight champions Frank Mir and Andrei Arlovski seemed to be playing out.

Each reached the pinnacle, ran into hard times, faded from prominence and seemed ready for the glue factory.

But on Saturday at the MGM Grand in the co-main event of UFC 191, Mir and Arlovski will meet in a match that carries great significance within the division.

And though this could have been one of the sport's biggest fights in, say, 2004, the amazing thing is that after this roller coaster each man has been on, they may be better now than ever.

Andrei Arlovski (MMA Weekly)
Andrei Arlovski (MMA Weekly)

Arlovski has won five in a row, including three straight since rejoining the UFC last year. His bout in May at UFC 187 against Travis Browne is one of this year's finest fights and one of MMA's best-ever heavyweight slugfests.

Only a decision loss to Anthony "Rumble" Johnson in a 2013 World Series of Fighting Match, has prevented Arlovski from entering this bout with an eight-fight winning streak. Since a win over Ray Lopez on Aug. 27, 2011, Arlovski is 9-1 with a no-contest.

It's a remarkable turnaround for a guy who in a two-year span from 2009 through early 2011 lost four in a row, including three by knockout.

But Mir's return to prominence is every bit as amazing as Arlovski's. After he lost the last of four in a row, he was urged by many to retire.

Mir had been one of the sport's best jiu-jitsu players for a big man, but he didn't seem to have the quickness or the energy any longer to pull off his submissions.

He lost four in a row, to Junior dos Santos, Daniel Cormier, Josh Barnett and Alistair Overeem. There is no great shame in losing to any of those four, as all are former world champions with terrific résumés.

But Mir was violently knocked out by dos Santos and Barnett and was never in his decision losses to Cormier and Overeem.

He was in his early days the big, fast, athletic heavyweight that every promoter dreams of finding. His 2004 motorcycle accident cost him the heavyweight title as well as much of his ability.

Mir put together a remarkable return and once again won the belt, but it seemed there would be no third act. Beginning with a loss to Brock Lesnar at UFC 100, Mir was 0-4 in heavyweight title fights.

Frank Mir (Getty Images)
Frank Mir (Getty Images)

Mir, though, is one of those resilient athletes who is hard to discourage. And working with head coach Ricky Lundell and boxing coach Angelo Reyes, Mir has seemed to reinvent himself.

He's won his last two bouts, first-round knockouts of Silva and Todd Duffee. Now, Silva was struggling when he faced Mir and entered the fight 0-2-1 in his past three, while Duffee remains an unproven commodity.

Still, Mir disposed of both in brutally efficient fashion.

And here's the thing: If his hands are anywhere near as good as they appeared to be in the wins over Silva and Duffee, then Mir is once again a threat to beat just about any heavyweight in the world.

His jiu-jitsu is world-class when he forces the opponent to respect other areas of his game. When he can box and punch with power, it creates many options for him.

Mir said he's "the best I've ever been," and if that is true, that's a big statement. He's certainly evolved tremendously from the unbeaten, arm-breaking terror he was in 2004 when he held the championship and seemed as if he'd been on top for a long time.

But Arlovski, too, has gotten vastly better and so, strangely, a Mir-Arlovski fight in 2015 carries much more interest than it would have in 2004.

There is a chance, although it is no guarantee, that the winner will face the winner of the title bout between Fabricio Werdum and former champion Cain Velasquez.

The fact that the winner will even be considered for a title shot was almost unfathomable a year, 18 months ago.

Now, it's playing out to be one of the best, and most unlikely, stories in all of sport.

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