UFC 130 – Frank Mir on facing Roy Nelson: “We’re friends before the fight and we’ll be friends after”

Former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir has revealed only something untoward happening inside the octagon this Saturday night will come between him and Roy Nelson’s friendship following their UFC 130 clash, adding it’s all happening in the spirit of competition.
Speaking during Wednesday’s press conference in Las Vegas, Mir said:

“As far as when it comes down to the fight, I think the hard time a lot of people find with fighters is that if my wife were to get in the ring with me I would try to knock her out and choke her unconscious, no problem, I would flip the switch.”

“Any other day of the week we don’t have that. But that’s what makes it to where we’re up here, Roy and I are friends before the fight, I like the guy a lot, and after the fight as long as there’s nothing done inappropriately like a choke being held after the bell gets rung, which neither one of us has ever done anything like that, we’ll be friends afterwards regardless of the outcome.”

“During that fight it doesn’t matter that we didn’t like each other before hand, trust me Roy’s going to try to knock my head off, I’m going to try to knock his head off, and if I can catch him in a choke I want him to go to sleep and I guarantee he would like to take my arm off and put it on his mantle. I’ve never tapped in a submission competition and I’ve never tapped in the UFC, I’m sure he would like to be the first one to create that happening.”

Mir could put himself back in title contention with a win over Roy Nelson later this month at UFC 130 in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was last in action back in September when he knocked out former PRIDE champion, Mirko Cro Cop in the third and final round. Stay tuned to MMABay for more on this as we get it.