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Source: abs-cbnnews.com

-- Former Ultimate Fighting Championship heavyweight champion Frank Mir said his UFC 107 victory over French Cheick Kongo on Saturday in Memphis, Tennesse (Sunday in Manila) was inspired by no less than seven-division world champ Manny Pacquiao.

“It’s something we’ve been saying the whole training camp. We call it ‘The Pacquiao,’ because Manny Pacquiao will step off as a southpaw and throw the overhand left,” Mir said in a report by Gareth Davies of The Telegraph.

“As soon as I hit Kongo I went to catch him with the uppercut and I didn’t see him, he was on the ground,” he recounted his knockdown of his French opponent.

“The Pacquiao” punch is regarded as one of the pound-for-pound king’s trademark blows. He used this to floor Briton Ricky Hatton in the “Battle of the East and West” in May 2, Davies noted.

Mir won over Kongo by a 1st round submission (choke) at 1:12 in the UFC 107: Penn vs Sanchez co-feature at the FedEx Forum.

“If I get someone’s neck in the heavyweight division, it’s over with,” the fighter from Las Vegas, Nevada remarked of his speedy victory.

Mir improved his record to 13-4 while Kongo now holds a 24-6-1 win-loss record.

Record holder

In the main event, UFC light heavyweight champion BJ “The Prodigy” Penn successfully defended his title against Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez.

Penn outlasted Sanchez in their 5-round fight by technical knockout at 2:32 in the final round.

According to Thomas Gerbasi of UFC.com, Saturday’s win was Penn’s third successful lightweight title defense. He also holds the record for the most successful consecutive lightweight title defenses (3).

Moreover, the following records belong to Penn: most lightweight championship fights won (4), most lightweight title fights (6), most lightweight championship rounds (24), most submissions in lightweight title fights (2) and most knockouts in lightweight title fights (2).

“BJ’s a great champion... I did my best, I didn’t come out on top, but I’ll be back,” remarked Sanchez, who now has 23 wins and 3 losses. Penn, meantime, has a 15-5-1 record.