Frank Mir

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Frank Mir
Statistics
Nickname Sometimes referred to as "The Baddest Man on the Planet"
Height 6 ft 2 in (188 cm)
Weight 253 lb (115 kg)
Nationality Flag of United States American
Born May 24, 1979
Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada
Town of birth Las Vegas, Nevada
Fighting style Brazilian jiu-jitsu
Mixed martial arts record
Wins 9
  By knockout 1
  By submission 5
Losses 3
Draws 0

Francisco Santos Mir III (born May 24, 1979 in Las Vegas, Nevada), popularly known as Frank Mir, is an American mixed martial arts fighter. He is a former Heavyweight Champion of the Ultimate Fighting Championship.

Contents

[edit] 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, after being bullied at school for being overweight. 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 November 12, 1993 in Denver, Colorado. When watching this PPV event, he was not yet convinced of the benefits in learning jiu-jitsu: "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.

[edit] 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 14, 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 2, 2001. 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 13, 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 19, 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.

[edit] Motorcycle injury

On the 17 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.

[edit] MMA return

Mir recovered from his motorcycle accident and fought Márcio "Pé-de-Pano" Cruz at UFC 57 on February 4, 2006. In a shocking upset, Mir was defeated by the relative newcomer in the first round by TKO due to strikes; initially, referee Herb Dean called for a break to check a large, bleeding cut on Mir's face, but Mir was given the opportunity to continue, and did so.

Mir returned to the Octagon on July 8 at UFC 61 and faced Dan "The Sandman" Christison. Mir had gained a considerable amount of weight since his last appearance and quickly became exhausted. Mir won by unanimous decision after 3 rounds. At UFC 65, Mir lost to Brandon Vera by technical knockout in 1:09 the first round.

Frank Mir was scheduled to Fight Antoni Hardonk at UFC Fight Night 9 on April 5th but had to drop out due to a shoulder injury. (See UFC Fight Night 9). Provided that he heals properly he intends to fight in the next open UFC event after he is healed, possibly in July or thereabouts.

[edit] Personal Life

Frank is married and has three children.

[edit] MMA record

9 Wins (1 KO, 5 submissions, 1 decision, 1 other), 3 Losses (3 TKO), 0 Draws.
Date Result Opponent Event Method Round Time Notes
11/18/2006 Loss Brandon Vera UFC 65 TKO (Strikes) Round 1 1:09
7/08/2006 Win Dan Christison UFC 61 Decision(Unanimous) Round 3 5:00
2/04/2006 Loss Marcio Cruz UFC 57 TKO (Strikes) Round 1 4:10
6/19/2004 Win Tim Sylvia UFC 48 Technical Submission (Armbar) Round 1 0:50 Won UFC Heavyweight Title
1/31/2004 Win Wes Sims UFC 46 KO (Strikes) Round 2 4:21
6/6/2003 Win Wes Sims UFC 43 DQ (stomping a Downed Opponent) Round 1 2:55
2/28/2003 Win David L. Abbott UFC 41 Submission (Toe Hold) Round 1 0:46
7/13/2002 Loss Ian Freeman UFC 38 TKO Round 1 4:35
3/22/2002 Win Pete Williams UFC 36 Submission (Shoulder Lock) Round 1 0:46
11/2/2001 Win Roberto Traven UFC 34 Submission (Armbar) Round 1 1:05
8/31/2001 Win Dan Quinn IFC Warriors Challenge 15 Submission (Triangle Choke) Round 1 2:15
7/14/2001 Win Jerome Smith HOOKnSHOOT-Showdown Decision Round 2 5:00

[edit] See also

[edit] External links


Previous champion
Tim Sylvia		 10th UFC Heavyweight Champion

June 19, 2004 - August 12, 2005

 Next champion
Andrei Arlovski
Retrieved from "http://en.wikipedia.org../../../f/r/a/Frank_Mir_0869.html"
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