QUOTABLES: Frank Mir believes he's a bigger and harder hitting opponent for Roy Nelson at UFC 130 than was Junior Dos Santos

By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

"The key to beating Roy is not to move backwards. I think his style plays into people who try to fade away from him. Fights that I've seen of Roy when people do well with him him is when they move forward. If he makes a mistake, I'm a lot bigger than [Junior] Dos Santos and I believe I hit a lot harder. I'm a taller, longer athlete, quicker. I'll constantly pepper him with shots when he comes in and make him pay when I do hit him with something. When I hit Cheick Kongo, the punch alone threw him halfway across the Octagon. On the night of the fight, neither one of us are gonna pull any punches. If I catch him with something, I'll try to hurt him with it."

-Frank Mir discusses his keys to beating Roy Nelson at UFC 130 in a pre-fight UFC interview for the event.

Penick's Analysis: I think Frank's got a bit of an over-inflated sense of his size and power in comparison to Dos Santos, as they're definitely similar in size, and the power comparison is definitely questionable. Still, he's a big guy and he does hit hard, and his gameplan will need to be to put a beating on Nelson at UFC 130. He can grapple with him, sure, he's done it in the past, but he can win this fight with his striking if he plays the aggression game and keeps Nelson on his toes throughout. Dos Santos was able to have success in hitting Nelson but not in putting him out, and Mir will need to find a way to accomplish what Dos Santos couldn't to finish the fight, because Nelson is a hard fighter to finish. This should be an excellent heavyweight fight, though, and it's one of the best fights on the card on May 28.

[Frank Mir art by Cory Gould (c) MMATorch.com]

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