One of the most accomplished submission specialists in MMA history Frank Mir discussed his multiple matchups against Brock Lesnar….
One of the most accomplished submission specialists in MMA history Frank Mir discussed his multiple matchups against Brock Lesnar. The bout, which ended with Mir submitting Lesnar via kneebar, marked one of the defining moments in both fighters’ careers. But behind the scenes, Mir revealed professional frustrations from his wife.
Frank Mir vs. Brock Lesnar
When Lesnar transitioned from WWE to the UFC, many dismissed him as a mere entertainer, but Mir quickly recognized the danger Lesnar posed.
“The guy’s legitimate,” Mir said. “The base of wrestling this guy has down is scary. But wait a minute, you guys think he’s only a pro wrestler? That scared me. I was like, Oh shit. No. I’m not fighting an entertainer. I’m actually fighting a guy who went into pro wrestling but has been wrestling since he was a kid.”
Brock Lesnar’s collegiate wrestling accolades, including an NCAA Division I championship, were no joke, and Mir understood that underestimating him would be a fatal mistake. However, he also felt the pressure of public perception. “I thought, Oh shit, people are gonna think if I struggle with this guy, ‘Oh, look, pro wrestling won.’ But I’m like, No, this ain’t pro wrestling, buddy. That guy’s actually a legitimate grappler.”
B-Side
Despite being a former UFC heavyweight champion, Frank Mir’s wife felt sidelined in the promotion’s marketing of the fight. He recalled being informed just days before the fight that Brock Lesnar, despite being the UFC newcomer, would walk second—traditionally reserved for the more highly ranked fighter.
“So, right off the bat, I was just the B-side guy,” he explained, “I was just showing up to be thrown to the wolves, you know? That was after my accident, and I really hadn’t come back that strong. I’d won a fight, lost a fight, won a fight—they didn’t know how my leg was doing.”
“I remember because that was one thing that actually irritated my wife. But my wife’s my pitbull, to the point where sometimes we get into fights because she’s so protective of me. It’s great. I’m easygoing—I don’t give a sh*t. So, I remember they called me up, like, two days before the fight, saying, “Hey, uh, we know you’re a former champion, but we’re gonna have him walk second, so you’ll be waiting for him in the cage.””
Looking across the cage at the behemoth Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir recalled thinking, “I need to get new management.”
Lesnar’s explosive power overwhelmed Mir early, but Mir stayed composed, biding his time to capitalize on a mistake. “When he jumped over the top, actually, I thought I had the kneebar locked,” Mir explained. “Usually, when I do that move, people fall to their ass. Yeah, he jumped and dragged me with him. He dragged me like a little child. If you watch, he jumped over the top of me and dropped me about five feet, hanging off his leg.”
Frank Mir at UFC 81 quickly submitted Brock Lesnar and spoiled his debut in the UFC. The two would later rematch headlining UFC 100.
Frank Mir, former UFC heavyweight champion and rival of Brock Lesnar, believes that many Brazilian jiu-jitsu BJJ practitioners are…
Frank Mir, former UFC heavyweight champion and rival of Brock Lesnar, believes that many Brazilian jiu-jitsu BJJ practitioners are approaching their training incorrectly. Known for his technical grappling and record-setting submissions, Mir recently shared his views on the flaws he sees in how people train.
Frank Mir on Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu
“I don’t train to make people tap,” Mir said. “The ultimate goal is the choke. Submissions like armbars, kimuras, and leg locks are just tools. “Okay, this is in my way.” It’s kind of like scoring a touchdown in a game. It’s not over with, but I’m upping the score in my favor. I guess I kind of think of it like a boxer throwing a body punch. Hey man, if you fall down and the fight’s over, great. But that body punch is actually more meant to hurt you, disable you, and put things more in my favor.” This is the philosophy he used to submit several opponents int he UFC including Brock Lesnar.
Mir argues that focusing solely on making an opponent tap during training misses the bigger picture. “People tap in the gym all the time to things that don’t mean anything,” the multi-time opponent of Brock Lesnar explained. “To make them tap in a fight? There are things I’ll tap into in the gym just because they’re uncomfortable. If we’re outside by my car, my kids are there, and you’re in between me and them? I’m not tapping into that. That ain’t happening. Most people won’t. You know what I mean? That’s on them, though. That’s bad technique.”
Comparing Training to Standardized Tests
Mir compared the fixation on tapping to focusing on test scores in education, saying that measuring success in this way is misleading. “It’s like teaching kids to take a test rather than teaching them the subject,” he said. Frank Mir ha broken multiple limbs in the octagon.
“It’s when you use the measuring stick as the actual test. For example, when they did No Child Left Behind, right? So we educated the kids, and they said, “Hey, we’re going to make sure the kids take this test. How well they do on the test is how well we’ll do for state or government funding to the school.” So what did teachers do? What humans do. They just taught the kids how to take the test. They weren’t really teaching them. They said, “Okay, well, we’ll just make you better at the test.”“
“It’s like, okay, so you’re good at the game, but for the sake of the game. You should be good at the game because it reinforces realistic life situations and systems. You’re not bench pressing yourself out of most situations in a fight.“
Mir believes this mindset is especially problematic in self-defense and compared it to NFL trials, he continued:
“That’s why, like, people watch the NFL Combine. How often do you see a guy, and they’ll show him on ESPN like, “This guy just ran the fastest for his position.” You never hear about him during the regular season ever again. That was his highlight, because he specialized to be good at the test.”
At 44, Mir still trains regularly, often with his wife, who is a purple belt in BJJ. “When I roll with her, it’s all about technique. I’m not using strength, just precision. It’s like a chess match,” he said. He also highlighted the value of jiu-jitsu for women, saying it teaches valuable skills for self-defense.
Technique Over Strength
Mir, who holds the record for the most submissions in UFC heavyweight history including one over Brock Lesnar, is a strong proponent of technique over raw strength. He pointed out that relying on strength alone is a common mistake. If your game is based on strength, it’s not going to work against someone bigger or more skilled, bad technique doesn’t hold up in real situations.
Submitted Brock Lesnar
Frank Mir, who famously submitted Brock Lesnar with a kneebar and broke Tim Sylvia’s arm with an armbar, says his philosophy extends beyond the gym or competition. “But the ego of not protecting yourself, guys—just let it go. I’m like, “No, that reinforces that they’re an idiot.” This is a game or something. If you’re not tapping, I’m assuming that means my move isn’t very good because I’m not breaking something. You know what I mean? Like, if you tap, it means you’re protecting your limb, and you’re reinforcing that I have good technique.”
“But if you’re just there to hurt people and make them tap, it’s like… yeah, but right now we all have to go to work tomorrow. There’s a different mentality. I want longevity.”
The newly created Global Fight League (GFL) has announced a lengthy list of signings ahead of its launch in 2025, including multiple former champions from the UFC and other organizations. After years of preparation, the GFL is set to stage events for the first time next April, as the promotion looks to succeed in the […]
The newly created Global Fight League (GFL) has announced a lengthy list of signings ahead of its launch in 2025, including multiple former champions from the UFC and other organizations.
After years of preparation, the GFL is set to stage events for the first time next April, as the promotion looks to succeed in the fight game with a team-based format and season structure.
15 cards are planned up until August, after which two playoff events and one final will take place before the year’s end. GFL founder Darren Owen outlined that and more during an appearance on Wednesday’s episode of The Ariel Helwani Show on Uncrowned.
Perhaps most notably, he revealed some of the major names who have put pen to paper on deals with the GFL and will be in the mix for the inaugural draft on Jan. 24, when six city teams will select 20 fighters (two in each of the 10 divisions) from a pool of 300 athletes.
Among them are former UFC champions Luke Rockhold, Tyron Woodley, Fabrício Werdum, Benson Henderson, Anthony Pettis, Frank Mir, Junior dos Santos, Andrei Arlovski, and Renan Barão, in addition to high-profile veterans like Alexander Gustafsson, Gegard Mousasi, Aleksei Oleinik, Kevin Lee, Thiago Santos, Jeremy Stephens, Hector Lombard and Jimmie Rivera.
Elsewhere, a number of other comebacks have raised skeptical eyebrows, including the latest return from retirement for ex-WSOF champ Marlon Moraes, who most recently hung up the gloves after a brief stint in the PFL extended his losing skid to seven straight fights.
For the full list of names confirmed by Owen and those on the GFL website, see below:
Heavyweight (265lbs)
Alan Belcher (18-8)
Aleksandr Maslov (11-1)
Aleksei Oleinik (61-18-1)
Andrei Arlovski (34-24)
Fabrício Werdum (24-9)
Frank Mir (16-11)
Greg Hardy (7-5)
Guto Inocente (11-6)*
Junior dos Santos (21-10)
Oli Thompson (18-9)
Philipe Lins (18-5)
Robelis Despaigne (5-2)
Roggers Souza (15-8)
Stuart Austin (18-9)
Tanner Boser (21-10)
Image: UFC.com
Light Heavyweight (225lbs)
Alexander Gustafsson (18-8)
Cleiton Silva (16-4)
Emiliano Sordi (23-10)
Ilir Latifi (16-9, 1 NC)*
Rafael Carvalho (17-8)
Thiago Santos (22-13, 1 NC)*
Image: UFC.com
Middleweight (200lbs)
Gegard Mousasi (49-9)
Chauncey Foxworth (19-10)
Glaico Franca (23-8)
Hector Lombard (34-10)
Jozef Wittner (16-4)
Kyle Daukaus (15-4)
Luke Rockhold (16-6)
Markus Perez (14-6)
Phil Hawes (15-4)
Wanderlei Silva (35-14)
Image: Josh Hedges/Zuffa LLC
Welterweight (180lbs)
Abubakar Nurmagomedov (17-4)
Austin Tweedy (11-4)
Benson Henderson (30-12)
Dominick Meriweather (8-1)
Francisco Trinaldo (32-14)
Jordan Mein (31-14)
Julio Spadaccini (8-3)
Michael Irizarry (14-5)
Rousimar Palhares (19-11-1)
Ruan Machado (7-2)
Tyron Woodley (19-7)
Image: UFC/YouTube
Lightweight (165lbs)
Amirkhon Alikhuzhaev (11-4)
Anthony Pettis (25-14)
Ayinda Octave (5-0)
Ayton De Paepe (12-4)
Charles Rosa (14-8)
Feruz Usmonov (4-1)
Gabriel Souza Galindo (9-1)*
Jefferson Pontes (6-1)
Jeremy Stephens (29-21)
John Makdessi (18-9)
Kevin Lee (20-8)
Killys motta (15-4)
Lucas Martins (22-7)
Mohamed Tarek Mohey (9-4)
Oscar Ownsworth (8-3)
Raimundo Batista (18-3)
Sidney Outlaw (19-6)
Stephen Beaumont (11-3)
Will Brooks (26-5)
William Lima (6-3)
Yan Cabral (15-3)
Image: PFL MMA
Featherweight (155lbs)
Alexsandro Cangaty (10-4)
Andre Harrison (22-3-1)
Claudeci Brito (11-4)
Deberson Batista (12-4)
Lance Palmer (22-5)
Lucas Martins (22-7)*
Marcel Adur (16-5)
Marcelo Dias (14-6)
Marlon Moraes (23-13)
Patrizio de Souza (18-6)
Renan Oliveira (11-2)
Image: PFL MMA
Bantamweight (145lbs)
Andre Soukhamthath (14-10)*
Andre Harrison (22-3-1)*
Bubba Jenkins (21-9)*
Cameron Else (11-6)*
Denis Palancica (10-1)
Diego Teixeira (7-4)
Jimmie Rivera (23-5)
Marciano Ferreira (13-3)
Omar Arteaga (11-1)
Pedro Carvalho (13-10)*
Renan Barão (34-0)
Image: UFC.com
Women’s Bantamweight (140lbs)
Alexa Conners (8-5)
Kalindra Faria (19-10-1)
Pannie Kianzad (16-9)
Tonya Evinger (19-8-1)
Women’s Flyweight (130lbs)
Chiara Penco (9-5)
Karolina Owczarz (5-3)*
Miao Ding (18-8)
Women’s Strawweight (120lbs)
Bi Nguyen (6-9)
Silvania Monteiro (11-4)
Image: UFC.com
*Fighter’s weight class for the 2025 draft not yet disclosed on the GFL website
While the chances of a team-based format succeeding in MMA have been doubted by plenty of analysts in the media space, Owen explained to Helwani why he’s confident of it working.
“We’re able to create unique storylines that have never existed in the sport,” Owen said. “That’s one thing we keep hearing. Everyone loves the sport of MMA but the storylines are often not there. What this brings is the talking points, the, ‘OK, are these two fighters going to be teammates or are they going to be potentially fighting?’ And different strategies that come in, different betting elements that come in.
“The No. 1 driver in sports fandom proven is cheering for your favorite team. Favorite teams have never really existed in the sport of MMA. So we’re just creating what already exists and you see it across all the major professional leagues in the world, and this is just the implementation of that team-based league model for the third most popular sport in the world.”
Fighter contracts with the GFL will be exclusive and include a rare 50/50 revenue split. The promotion is also promising to contribute eight percent of each athlete’s purse into a retirement fund and two toward insurance.
“Whatever revenue we receive, whether it’s media rights deals, sponsorships, ticket sales, all of that, 50% goes into the fighter revenue pool from that specific event and then those fighters that are on that event are the ones who share in that revenue percentage.
“Athletes get paid either or — whatever is greater — their guaranteed amount or their revenue share percentage. So someone might have a $50,000 guaranteed purse and they earn 1% revenue share, but if there’s $10 million in that revenue pool for that event, then they’re going to receive $100,000 instead of what they were thinking was $50,000.”
A lot seemingly still needs to come together before the GFL’s launch in 2025, including a broadcast deal before events are staged in April.
Owen confirmed talks are set to take place regarding that in January, and if no agreement is made with an outside entity, he told Helwani the organization is prepared to create its own platform to stream on.
MMA teams led by former UFC champions Frank Mir and Henry Cejudo will go toe to toe at the United Fight League 5 on August 30, 2024, at The Gila River Wild Horse Pass Casino in Arizona. The sold-out event will be streamed on Kick and Rumble for free as well. Mir and Cejudo coach […]
MMA teams led by former UFC champions Frank Mir and Henry Cejudo will go toe to toe at the United Fight League 5 on August 30, 2024, at The Gila River Wild Horse Pass Casino in Arizona. The sold-out event will be streamed on Kick and Rumble for free as well.
Mir and Cejudo coach UFL’s Team Las Vegas and Team Phoenix, respectively. Although the fighting rules are the same, the state-inspired teams and the team-based scoring system in the promotion are like a breath of fresh air in MMA. It is also the first and only combat sports league to provide health insurance to fighters.
Here’s how the UFL aims to set a new standard for combat sports promotions through its newly introduced scoring system…
Frank Mir Explains How Relying On Stars Like Conor McGregor Produces Inconsistent Results For The UFC
Mir appeared on the talkSPORT MMA YouTube channel to discuss UFL 5’s format and innovative scoring system. Including Las Vegas and Phoenix, UFL will have a total of eight teams with Rashad Evans and Quinton Jackson confirmed to lead Team Florida and Southern California, respectively.
Here’s how teams will score points at UFL 5:
Finishing a fight in the first round grants 4 points in a standard bout and 6 points in the main event.
Finishing a fight in the second round grants 3 points in a standard bout and 5 points in the main event.
Finishing a fight in the third round grants 2 points in a standard bout and 4 points in the main event.
Finishing a main event fight in the fourth round grants 3 points.
Finishing a main event fight in the fifth round grants 2 points.
A decision win grants 1 point in a standard bout as well as the main event.
In case there’s a tie after all the fights, the team with the least cage time will get the nod, bragging rights, and $50,000.
As per Mir, this is how the UFL aims to tackle the problem of being overly dependent on a limited number of stars. He claimed that the UFC benefitted heavily from Conor McGregor but the promotion will always produce fewer numbers when he isn’t fighting.
“It made sense to me because I was like, you know, it sucks because when fighters come and go. You know, he’s like, Conor is a phenomenal example. Conor moved the needle like no other fighter, but when he’s not on the card, or he’s not part of there, everybody suffers. He doesn’t know, not as many people are going to view the fights because he’s not fighting. And so, I was like, how can we get around that. And I always watch college wrestling and seen how, here in the States, you can have a guy from Iowa, you know, wrestling Penn State, Minnesota, and Ohio, and all these powerhouses of wrestling that have long traditions and they have, you know, a car stadium, it fills up 60,000 people.”
The two-time UFC heavyweight champ also stated how this isn’t an issue in wrestling. For instance, team-based college wrestling events in the United States attract thousands of viewers constantly despite the absence of huge names. Mir believes that a team-based setting helps them build loyal fans who care more about a team’s progress instead of just wanting to see one fighter.
It is too early to predict how commercially successful UFL’s new format will be in the long run. For now, fans can enjoy Team Phoenix vs. Team Las Vegas which features a bantamweight championship main event bout between Hunter Azure and Vince Morales.
The UFC heavyweight division has been a hot topic in MMA circles lately. Dana White is adamant about booking current champ Jon Jones against Stipe Miocic in 2024. On the flip side, fans seem more interested in seeing “Bones” take on Tom Aspinall who defended his interim belt against Curtis Blaydes at UFC 304 via […]
Jones has yet to defend his UFC heavyweight championship since beating Ciryl Gane for it in March 2023. A shoulder injury forced him out of action for almost a year, and the delay in his return has led to many opposing Miocic getting a title shot despite not fighting in over three years.
Although there’s no guarantee that it will happen, Frank Mir has picked Jones to beat Aspinall if they ever fight in the UFC…
Frank Mir Believes Jon Jones Has A 90% Chance Of Beating Tom Aspinall In The UFC Heavyweight Division
Mir discussed a potential fight between Jones and Aspinall on the talkSPORT MMA YouTube channel recently. He acknowledged that the English heavyweight is quite skilled but just doesn’t see him beating the UFC light heavyweight GOAT in the next 12 months.
“Jon’s the GOAT of our sport right now. I get that Tom, and I totally don’t blame him. I would do everything if I was Tom Aspinall. I would do everything I possibly could, maybe show up at his house, get him pissed enough to take that fight because that could just catapult his career.”
The former UFC heavyweight champ believes that Aspinall won’t be able to submit or even take down Jones due to the latter’s superior wrestling. He backed this claim by mentioning Jones’ two wins over Daniel Cormier, arguably one of the best wrestlers to ever fight in the UFC.
“If you said, put my money down on it. If they fought this year or fought within 12 months from now, from what I know training with Jon, from what I’ve seen from Tom, I think Jon has about a 70 to 80, 90% chance of winning the fight.”
“If Tom closes distance, he’s never submitting Jon. And, Jon outwrestles him absolutely. They had a take down contest, he can’t take Jon down one time, zero. Absolutely zero. Jon’s wrestling is unreal. If Jon had gone a different path in life, and maybe had not problem in school, he would have absolutely been the Olympic world champion at wrestling, you know. That’s just the part of me. He outwrestled Cormier, you know what I mean? Cormier’s accolades in wrestling are through the roof.”
Mir added that Aspinall’s explosive and fast striking, especially for a heavyweight, could be his only way to victory against Jones. He remembered the likes of Vitor Belfort and Dominick Reyes who had success against “Bones” due to their speed advantage in striking exchanges.
Interestingly, former rival Quinton “Rampage” Jackson also favored Jones to win against Aspinall for similar reasons in a recent interview with Inside Fighting. The former UFC light heavyweight kingpin praised the interim UFC heavyweight champ’s skills but doesn’t think it’ll be enough for him to unify the title against the current undisputed champion.
Frank Mir headlined one of the highest-grossing events in UFC history and was left with little to show for…
Frank Mir headlined one of the highest-grossing events in UFC history and was left with little to show for it.
Emanating from the Mandalay Bay Events Center on July 11, 2009, the promotion delivered its first centennial event, UFC 100, featuring a blockbuster heavyweight championship main event pitting division staple Frank Mir against WWE Superstar turned MMA fighter Brock Lesnar. Selling 1.6 million pay-per-views, it was the biggest event in UFC history at the time and still holds strong as the promotions’ fifth biggest seller.
With premium cards costing $44.95 at the time, the event produced $71 million in revenue which was ultimately split in half with cable providers, leaving the UFC with roughly $35 million. Mir’s reported purse for headlining the historic event was a meager $45,000 — a little more than 10% of Lesnar’s $400,000. This was before pay-per-view bonuses were factored in.
Mir ultimately walked away with a sum that was still below the $1 million mark. In fact, Mir never once cleared seven figures during his 15-year run with the promotion, making him one of the most underpaid fighters in UFC history. By the time he realized what was going on, it was too late.
“I think when it finally dawned on me was the Deontay Wilder [rematch] with Tyson Fury,” Mir told MMA Fighting. “We still did more buys than they did, me and Brock, and then I’m looking at the pay-per-view cost. OK, the money was there. Who did it go to? Seeing these guys make $40 million combined. I’m like wow. Brock obviously made seven figures off it, I think he made $2.5 million. But I didn’t even make a million.”
The Wilder-Fury fight generated roughly half of the buys that UFC 100 did, hovering in the area of 800,000 to 850,000. But with a price tag of $79.99, the event brought in $66 million. Wilder and Fury were both guaranteed to walk away with upwards of $25 million apiece on top of a share of the PPV revenue. A far cry from what Mir and Lesnar earned for their big-money rematch.
“Brock himself, a much bigger superstar than [Fury or Wilder],” Mir said. “How come he wasn’t making $20 million? That blows my mind, and I don’t understand it. “Until Conor [McGregor] came along, we had the record for the most pay-per-view buys sold.”
Frank Mir Hopeful that his daughter will fare better in the fight game than he did
Looking back, Frank Mir is understandably frustrated by the pitiable purses he had received, but the reality is that the former heavyweight titleholder simply didn’t know what kind of money the UFC was bringing in at the time. Years later, he recognizes that his lack of knowledge and understanding proved to be a costly lesson in an otherwise stellar career.
“At the time, I didn’t know better,” Mir said. “We didn’t know. Just now as time goes on, I’m looking around like, hold on a second, that makes no sense. A pay-per-view buy is a pay-per-view buy. Why is this sport paying their athletes this percentage of what they’re making versus this one? It’s the pretty same makeup. This isn’t two wildly different sports, boxing and MMA. They’re very comparable when it comes to putting up a cage or a ring, so it’s not like the costs are different.
“So what’s the difference here? Oh, that’s because you have competing promoters, and they know what’s going on, and you can’t screw each other. In the UFC, it’s the only promoter. In MMA, the show is the only promoter. It’s not like we’re going to have a Bellator fighter and a UFC fighter, and they’re both on the card, so both organizations know what they’re going to get their guy, because they both understand the revenue models. They understand what’s going on. They’re not speaking from ignorance.”
The issue of fighter pay is still a contentious topic in the world of mixed martial arts. Particularly in the UFC where the promotion typically shares a paltry 15-17% of its revenue with fighters — a downright pathetic percentage when you consider that leagues like the NFL, MLB, NHL, and NBA regularly share 50% of their revenue with athletes, give or take.
Of course, fighters today make more money now than during Mir’s heyday. Knowing that helps the former heavyweight sleep a little better at night as his daughter Bella is prepared to follow in her father’s legendary footsteps.
“I’m not as uneasy about it,” Mir said. “Before, it was like I don’t know that many people who do MMA and don’t still have to do something afterward. Myself included. Doing commentary, working for different groups and organizations. There’s a reason why I’m busy. To know she can make a career and a living off it too, it makes that pill a little easier to swallow.
“As the father in me, I’m like OK, she’s going to be millionaire at least. I’m not as scared about it as I was before. Because you have the risk of injury, and you’re not going to be pursuing other endeavors in life that could take care of you financially, and you’re going to sacrifice that to follow this fight career, and then you’re going to be behind when you go into those careers.
“For what? For personal gain, for martial arts and pushing yourself is awesome, but as a father, it’s like what about your bank account? Your security. Are you going to be able to take care of yourself? At the time, I was terrified. Now, not so much. It’s a better world now than when I was there.”
Frank Mir, former UFC heavyweight champion and rival of Brock Lesnar, believes that many Brazilian jiu-jitsu BJJ practitioners are…
Frank Mir headlined one of the highest-grossing events in UFC history and was left with little to show for…
