Frank Mir, the two-time UFC heavyweight champion who has now lost three consecutive fights and two of three by TKO, has no plans to retire anytime soon, according to the fighter’s manager.
“Yes, he definitely wants to fight,” Mir’s manager, Malki Kawa, said Monday on The MMA Hour broadcast with host Ariel Helwani. “Frank has actually improved. He’s actually gotten better. And he hasn’t had an opportunity to show it.”
Mir, 34, took a TKO loss to Josh Barnett last Saturday at UFC 164. Less than two minutes into the fight, Barnett landed a heavy knee to Mir’s head, Mir fell to the canvas and referee Rob Hinds waved off Barnett moments later.
More than a few observers, including Mir himself and UFC president Dana White, criticized the stoppage for coming too early.
“Yeah, it was too early. It was definitely too early,” Kawa said of the stoppage. “In talking to Frank, Frank was completely aware and conscious of what was going on. He wasn’t rocked, he just didn’t want to get hit again.”
In the end, it all amounted to just the latest setback for Mir.
Eleven months after suffering a devastating and demoralizing TKO in a title bout with then-champion Junior dos Santos at UFC 146, Mir (16-8) then dropped an uninspiring decision to Olympic wrestler Daniel Cormier in Cormier‘s UFC debut. After the dos Santos loss, Mir moved his training camp home base from his native Las Vegas to Greg Jackson and Mike Winkeljohn’s vaunted MMA gym in New Mexico. Despite claims that Mir is feeling and fighting better than he ever has, the improvement has yet to materialize when the bright lights are on.
Three consecutive losses marks the end of a UFC tenure for many professional fighters. UFC officials have not yet revealed any future plans or intentions for Mir.
The stoppage marred a strong Octagon return for the 35-year-old Barnett (33-6), himself a former heavyweight champion. After testing positive for steroids back in 2002 following his defeat of Randy Couture at UFC 36, Barnett left the UFC. Saturday night marked his first UFC fight since that win over Couture, which netted him the UFC heavyweight title.
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