Mir’s Triad Combat fight against Kubrat Pulev comes with a career high payday — even more than he made to rematch Brock Lesnar at UFC 100.
Frank Mir will be fighting again on November 27th, but it won’t be in the cage. It won’t be in a traditional boxing ring. No, this time it will be inside a triangle ring for Triller’s Triad Combat, which is being touted as a fusion between boxing and MMA that levels the playing field for mixed martial artists. Some specifics: only punches are allowed, but fighters will be wearing smaller gloves with open thumbs. Clinching is allowed, and so are spinning back fists.
We’re not so sure those tweaks are going to help Mir against Kubrat Pulev, a hard headed European heavyweight champ whose only two losses came to Wladimir Klitschko and Anthony Joshua. But hey, as we say so often when these bouts are made: at least Frank Mir is getting paid.
When asked on the MMA Hour if it was true this was the biggest purse of his career, Mir answered “True.”
“Not [by a significant amount],” he added. “The second Brock fight was close, but that was the second biggest of my career. But no, this one … in fact, if I hit my bonuses and I win, I’m basically touching on seven figures. And I’ve never been within a couple hundred grand of that in the MMA world.”
“It’s a testament to what Triller is doing, pushing the paydays and sharing the income. I realize this is a couple of years ago and this is kind of bittersweet for me. I looked at some of the pay-per-view buys that Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury sold. And what they took home for paydays. Brock and I sold more pay-per-views, and I didn’t take home nowhere near as much as either one of them. Brock and I combined didn’t take home ten percent of what they got.”
It’s a common gripe from past and present UFC fighters alike — boxers are pulling in eight figure purses for cards that barely break 500,000 buys. Meanwhile in MMA you’ve got guys like Francis Ngannou wondering why the hell they should re-sign with the promotion when the pay and treatment is so shoddy.
Frank Mir: I looked at the amount of PPV buys that Deontay Wilder and Tyson Fury sold and what they took home for paydays. Me and Brock sold more PPV and I didn’t take home no where near as much as either one of them.#TheMMAHour pic.twitter.com/CdPRCnsJ6y
— Jed I. Goodman © (@jedigoodman) November 24, 2021
I mean, other than the fact that MMA fighters historically don’t fare well in the boxing ring. Mir himself is 0-1 in boxing after losing via decision to Steve Cunningham on Triller’s Paul vs. Askren card in April. Triad Combat is really hyping a more even transitional experience, and who knows? Artem Lobov beating Paulie Malignaggi in bare knuckle boxing proves that a few small tweaks can go a long way.
Frank Mir is certainly confident that clinch fighting will be the key to beating Pulev.
“Up until about a week ago I’ve only trained with other MMA fighters,” Mir said in an earlier interview (via BroBible). “Because boxers don’t know how to wrestle within the clinch their muscles and aren’t used to that kind of push, pull endurance. The last week I brought in professional boxers and sure enough the clinch completely fatigued them, so if I had been training with them the whole time I would have probably dropped a level as far as my grappling, I just waited to be sharp and see what their reactions are.
“This is going to be nothing like a boxing match except for the first second where it starts but once we lock up, it’s back to what I do.”