Frank Mir
Francisco Santos Mir III (born 24 June, 1979 in Las Vegas, Nevada), popularly known as Frank Mir, is an American mixed martial arts fighter. He is a former Heavyweight Champion in the Ultimate Fighting Championship.
Biography
Born into a martial arts family, a young Mir learned the basics of combat from his parent's Kenpo Karate school in Las Vegas. He was sparring in tournaments at 5 years old and would go on to accumulate a collection of trophies. By the time he was 12, Mir had already reached 6 foot; being bigger than other children of his age, Mir often trained with older teens and adults. After being beaten in a kickboxing match, he wanted to improve in other areas of fighting.
He witnessed the first Ultimate Fighting Championship event, UFC 1 - The Beginning, which was held on 12th November 1993 in Denver, Colorado. When watching this PPV event, he was not yet convinced of the benefits in learning jujitsu: "I was fourteen watching the first UFC with my father and everyone was getting taken down and choked out by this scrawny Royce Gracie. I couldn't believe it was happening! My dad wanted to learn what they were doing right off the bat, but I defended what I already knew. I thought I could adjust for it. I felt I could defend against Jiu Jitsu instead of being humble and trying to learn it." His father convinced him to begin wrestling, on the basis that it could help him avoid submissions. However, "I was covering up a weakness rather than fixing one," Mir suggested. Despite losing his first seven wrestling matches, Mir went on to win the State heavyweight wrestling title in 1998.
UFC
Mir met UFC matchmaker Joseph Silva at a school Silva was visiting. Silva saw potential in Mir as a future UFC fighter and suggested that he first prove himself against some fighters in the mixed martial arts community. Mir would make his professional MMA debut against Jerome Smith at HOOKnSHOOT - Showdown on July 14th, 2001. Mir won the bout by judges' decision after two rounds. He won another match by submission at IFC Warriors Challenge 15. After these events, Silva proposed a match up between Mir and Robert Travern, a new UFC fighter; Mir accepted the offer.
Mir defeated Robert Travern by armbar at 1 minute 5 seconds of the first round at UFC 34 - High Voltage on November 2nd, 2001, breaking Travern's arm in the process. The submission earned Mir the "Tapout of the Night" award. Mir went on to win his next three fights in the UFC. He faced Ian "The Machine" Freeman, at UFC 38 - Brawl at the Hall, held in London, England on July 13th 2002. Despite several leglock attempts by Mir, Freeman achieved side control at around four minutes into the first round, landing numerous elbows and punches on Mir's head. After Freeman separated, the referee signaled an exhausted Mir to stand back up. A time out was called due to an apparent cut on Mir's face, and the referee stopped the fight when a wobbly Mir had difficulty standing up.
Mir fought Tim Sylvia for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Title at UFC 48 on June 19th, 2004. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight at 50 seconds into the first round when Mir's armbar broke Sylvia's right forearm. With the TKO win, Mir became the new UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Motorcycle injury
On the 17th September, 2004, Mir was knocked off his motorcycle by a car. Some reports suggest that he flew 60 to 70 feet off the bike. The accident caused a break in Mir's femur bone. The bone had broken in two places but the injury was not serious enough to end Mir's career as a MMA fighter. Major surgery was needed to repair the bone in his leg.
An interim heavyweight title was created whilst Mir was recovering from the injury, which Andrei Arlovski won. On August 12, 2005, UFC learned that Mir was not able to fight Andrei Arlovski in October as scheduled, thus Mir was stripped of the title after 14 months, and Andrei Arlovski, the interim Heavyweight champion was promoted to the Undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion.
Mir recovered from his accident and fought Márcio "Pé-de-Pano" Cruz at UFC 57 on February 4, 2006. Mir was defeated by the newcomer Cruz (now 2 - 1) in the first round by TKO due to strikes. Mir returned to the Octagon on July 8th at UFC 61 and faced Dan "The Sandman" Christison (8-3-0). Mir won by unanimous decision after 3 rounds.
MMA record
9 wins (1 KO, 5 submissions, 1 decision, 1 other), 2 loss (2 TKO), 0 draw.
- UFC Heavyweight champion (June 19th, 2004 - August 12, 2005)
See also
- Mixed martial arts
- Ultimate Fighting Championship
- Brazilian jiu-jitsu
- List of male mixed martial artists