Tarver-Mir joins Paul-Askren on April 17

No word yet as to whether Teofimo Lopez vs. George Kambosos Jr. will join Triller’s April 17th Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren card, but we do know a fight that will. Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir announced today that he’ll face 52-year-old former light heavyweight champion Antonio Carver on the undercard.

Mir (19-13 MMA) claimed UFC gold in 2004 with a gruesome armbar finish of Tim Sylvia, only to lose it after an equally gruesome motorcycle accident. He ultimately left the organization in 2016 after a knockout loss to Mark Hunt capped off a 2-6 skid, then lost his first two Bellator fights before finally ending a four-year victory drought in October of 2019 by making it 2-0 against former rival Roy Nelson.

For those unfamiliar with Mir, his primary weapon in the cage was high-level grappling, which allowed him to submit the likes of Sylvia, Brock Lesnar, and Antonio Rodrigo “Minotauro” Nogueira. He did flash some knockout power late in his career, stopping the historically fragile “Bigfoot” Silva and Todd Duffee, but he was nobody’s idea of a striking savant.

Tarver (31-6-1, 22 KO) hasn’t fought since drawing with Steve Cunningham in 2015 and subsequently failing a drug test. ESPN did a writeup of his many, many issues not long after, which continued in 2018 with an arrest for domestic battery.

Speaking as a fan of both MMA and boxing,