Over the past 14 years, Frank Mir has carved out his own place in the history of the UFC heavyweight division. On Sunday, he’ll face former title challenger Antonio “Bigfoot” Silva at UFC Fight Night 61 in Porto Alegre, Brazil.
The Las Vegas native rose to prominence in the heavyweight ranks on the strength of a power-submission game that was just as unique as it was brutal. Mir’s prowess on the mat made him Zuffa’s first star in the heavyweight fold, and at 25 years old and in just his ninth bout as a professional, the surging talent claimed championship gold by submitting Tim Sylvia via armbar in the first round of their tilt at UFC 48 in 2004.
While his bout with The Maine-iac only lasted 50 seconds, Mir’s snapping of Sylvia’s arm became not only a stomach-turning highlight but somewhat of a calling card for the Nevada-based fighter. Simply put, Mir’s submission skills were nothing to play with, and other victims would face the decision to “snap or tap” in the future.
Yet, while Mir was reveling in his newly acquired status as the UFC heavyweight champion, a motorcycle accident would bring his career to a tragic halt. It took two years for him to physically recover from the incident and return to action inside the Octagon, but a string of lackluster showings over the next two years would cast serious doubt about his ability to return to his previous form.
Nevertheless, he rediscovered his groove with a come-from-behind victory over former WWE star-turned-mixed martial artist Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 in 2008. In one quick turn, Mir suddenly had more momentum than ever before, and it carried him to a second stint as the heavyweight champion when he became the first fighter to finish Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira with strikes at UFC 82—eight months after Mir submitted The Beast Incarnate.
The tide of Mir’s career took a drastic turn in his rematch with Lesnar at UFC 100, and the next six years would come with mixed results as he found success in only four of his next 10 showings inside the Octagon. That includes a current rough patch where the former two-time champion has lost four consecutive fights.
That said, despite being in the midst of the longest drought of his professional career, Mir has found a silver lining in the chaos. The 35-year-old has been out of action since his unanimous-decision loss to Alistair Overeem at UFC 169 last February, and the time away has allowed him to see benefits in both physical and mental recovery.
The fighter inside of him never gave much credence to the necessity of recuperation, as he consistently chose to push on regardless of his physical condition, but he’s since allowed science to overpower his natural instincts.
And once his body had come around to meet his cerebral abilities as a mixed martial artist, Mir knew it was time to return to competing inside the Octagon. He will get the opportunity to turn things around when he faces Bigfoot in the main event of UFC Fight Night 61.
Although both fighters are in desperate need of a victory in order to stay afloat in the division, Mir isn’t feeling any particular pressure heading into his tilt with the American Top Team representative. Instead, he’s excited to be competing for the first time in as long as he can remember with his body operating at full capacity. He believes the results will speak for themselves wherever the fight goes on Sunday night.
“I think I’ll be very efficient in this fight, especially now that my overall athletic ability is back to normal,” Mir told Bleacher Report. “I took time off to heal up. Since the [Junior] dos Santos fight I’ve had about four surgeries to repair my elbow, shoulder, knee and never took time off to really rest them and heal them the right way. It was always a little bit of rest and then let’s jump right into a training camp.
“Over this past year I started taking a look at how competitors and athletes in other extreme sports keep longevity. John Lynch and Ray Lewis…I started looking at some of their programs. With football being such a violent sport, these guys beat their bodies up and are competing for 10, 12 or 15 years.
“I incorporated some of their programs in my training. Now, my overall skills are back to what I’ve been capable of doing in the past. I felt very limited in my last couple of fights. I wasn’t able to do the things I’ve been able to do in the past jiu-jitsu-wise, and I didn’t feel dangerous there anymore. Not for a lack of knowledge, but from a lack of physical ability.
“I’m now able to stand and twist and move like I used to, and I’m doing it in practice where, in the last couple of fights, I was incapable of doing it in practice but always told my coaches, ‘Ah…don’t worry guys. When the fight comes I won’t be in pain and I’ll just do it then.’ And it doesn’t work that way.”
Any athlete who has spent 14 years competing in a realm as rigorous and taxing as mixed martial arts is going to experience physical wear and tear, and Mir is no exception. The heavyweight submissions ace has undergone a long list of surgeries due to injuries, especially recently. Nevertheless, fighters are a different breed, and he admittedly fell victim to the notion that mental toughness is enough to overcome the shortcomings that arrive when the body begins to break down.
Mir soon discovered there was little truth in that mindset, but it wasn’t a destination he arrived at quickly. Despite his physical frame being torn down one limb at a time, he continued to press on through the pain by attempting to adjust his training. He believed he could somehow magically erase all lingering issues on fight night, and that simply wasn’t the case as his performances suffered inside the Octagon.
“For most people to be successful you can’t be logical at all times,” Mir said. “The one thing we kind of ingrain as fighters is we become delusional. We can overcome any odds. We will make it happen or make it work.
“That is a benefit that allows us to walk through fire, but at the same time, it can become a fallacy where you thought you were all of a sudden going to sit back and heal that when it’s not going to all of a sudden fix itself. I don’t think you are going to be able to jump or move with your knee in that condition regardless of how mentally tough you think you are.
“Forrest [Griffin] was in the gym making jokes and saying he knew it was time to retire when he started training like Mir,” he added. “I asked him how I trained, and he said I would be like, ‘Well my left arm doesn’t hurt so let’s work on jabbing today.’ Instead of sitting back and addressing things I would just drive through and push forward because I thought it was all about being mentally tough.
“Surely mental toughness is a big part of our sport, and it’s a great thing to have in life, but that is not really what makes great men great. Intelligently navigating through obstacles and giving yourself the best opportunities to perform at a high level is what matters.”
And returning to form is what Mir wants the most. He took the necessary time off between his bout with The Reem and his upcoming tilt with Silva to ensure his body would be firing on all cylinders. For a fighter who has won multiple world titles and crafted a memorable highlight reel in the process, there are few things the former heavyweight champion has yet to check off his bucket list.
He’s fought the best of the best and stood atop the divisional hierarchy multiple times, but accolades aren’t what drive him forward in his MMA career. Mir simply wants to go out on fight night and perform to the best of his abilities, and he is confident his bout with Silva at Fight Night 61 will present the perfect opportunity to do so.
“I guess I really don’t fight for accomplishments to be honest,” Mir said. “I enjoy them and will look at records or whatnot after the fact and think those things are interesting. Having submission records and things like that are cool, and winning another title is a goal of mine, but when you really get down to it and I’m grinding in the gym that’s not what is really keeping me motivated. I love martial arts. I love fighting and pushing myself up to a higher level. I like being able to see how good I can possibly be. I love the game of fighting.
“To go out there compete as long as I’m healthy and able to perform is what matters the most to me.”
Duane Finley is a featured columnist for Bleacher Report. All quotes are obtained firsthand unless noted otherwise.
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