Tag: Frank Mir

12 UFC Stars Who Suffered Career-Threatening Injuries & Illnesses

Ask any professional fighter and they’ll tell you the same thing – injuries are inevitable in MMA. No-one who goes toe-to-toe in the cage is going to emerge unscathed, and it’s an all-too-common occurrence for pro fighters to be dealing with niggling injuries on an ongoing basis, while most will have had spells where they’ve

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Ask any professional fighter and they’ll tell you the same thing – injuries are inevitable in MMA.

No-one who goes toe-to-toe in the cage is going to emerge unscathed, and it’s an all-too-common occurrence for pro fighters to be dealing with niggling injuries on an ongoing basis, while most will have had spells where they’ve had to go under the knife or sit on the sidelines for months at a time due to more serious ailments.

In the majority of cases these are not career-threatening issues, but as you’ll read in this article, there are some stars who have had to face up to the possibility that they may lose their livelihood due to brutal injuries they’ve sustained either in competition, in training, or sometimes just in their normal everyday lives away from the cage.

We’ll also take a look at rare examples of fighters who have been competing for years, only to suddenly discover that they have an underlying medical condition that could bring their career to an abrupt halt.

At times it’s tough to read what these guys have gone through, but this the reality of being a fighter, and nobody who sets foot in the Octagon emerges unscathed.

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Frank Mir: USADA Has Gone Overboard With Testing

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is not a big fan of USADA. He violated the Anti-Doping Policy stemming from an in-competition sample collected the day of his fight on March 20, 2016 (UFC Fight Night 85 against Mark Hunt) in Brisbane, Australia. After the news broke, Mir asked for his release from the UFC.

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Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is not a big fan of USADA. He violated the Anti-Doping Policy stemming from an in-competition sample collected the day of his fight on March 20, 2016 (UFC Fight Night 85 against Mark Hunt) in Brisbane, Australia. After the news broke, Mir asked for his release from the UFC.

During an appearance on Five Rounds podcast with Brett Okamoto, Mir gave his thoughts on USADA’s success and how it is affecting the UFC.

“I think it’s actually nailing a lot of guys it seems that aren’t trying to do anything wrong, to begin with. [There are] a lot of good examples of people – what about Tim Means? There’s a situation where somebody kind of got screwed that really wasn’t doing anything wrong or trying to really circumvent the system. I think now you have USADA is in the business of trying to catch as many people as they can and they’re trying to make the tests as sensitive as possible even before the tests are really plausible as far as, ‘well have you ruled out any other situations that could cause a false positive?’ And they come forward with the tests before that’s conclusive because they want to justify their paycheck at the end of the day.”

Mir believes that there are not a lot of people trying to cheat so USADA is trying to bust anyone for the smallest thing possible. Mir brought up Yoel Romero and Time Means using supplements and getting popped by USADA.

“I think they’re in a situation where not that many people are really trying to cheat so now they’re trying to make the tests so extensive that they can find the minutest molecule someone might come in contact with but in a lot of situations, to really tell someone that they’re responsible for everything that enters into their body – we’ve already seen situations like Yoel Romero and Tim Means are buying supplements from the store and they’re getting in trouble. Then overseas guys eating tainted meats and now all of a sudden they test positive for clenbuterol. It’s overboard I think.”

Mir explained that the UFC is losing their top tier talent who aren’t doing anything wrong. Perfect examples are Lyoto Machida and BJ Penn.

“I think right now we’re losing a lot of fighters. We lost Machida because he forgot to put something on his paperwork, B.J. Penn didn’t understand the new testing and took an IV months before the fight, not even a weight cutting situation. So I think we’re losing a lot of main event fighters to situations that are not actually cheating. I think you see that in a lot of movements. First you have something that’s not enough and then sometimes the response is overboard. I think right now we’re in the overboard status of our drug testing policy. I think that eventually, hopefully, it will come back to the middle where the tests are really trying to nail people that are trying to cheat or circumvent the system and not just somebody that happened to drink a protein shake at the local gym that wasn’t cleaned out well enough and the last guy put creatine in there or something and now it blows up his test.”

You can listen to the podcast here.

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Top 10 UFC Fights That Ended With Huge Stoppages

As the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion of all time, the UFC has whipped up some huge fights in its history with some of the baddest men on the planet going head-to-head against one another. Some fights between two top competitors don’t quite live up to the hype, however, as the bout ends up

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As the biggest mixed martial arts (MMA) promotion of all time, the UFC has whipped up some huge fights in its history with some of the baddest men on the planet going head-to-head against one another.

Some fights between two top competitors don’t quite live up to the hype, however, as the bout ends up putting fight fans to sleep rather than keeping them on the edge of their seat for 25 minutes or less.

Then, once in a blue moon, we get a fight that not only lives up to the hype, but exceeds it tremendously. That, my friends, is what we have compiled for you today, the top 10 biggest fights in UFC history that have ended with historic finishes. Let’s begin……

fabricio-werdum-submission10. Cain Velasquez vs. Fabricio Werdum UFC – 188

We kick off our list in the big boys’ division, where two of the most dangerous heavyweights of all time clashed for the biggest prize in MMA.

Coming off of nearly a two-year layoff from the sport, Cain Velasquez would attempt to unify his title with the then-interim heavyweight champ Fabricio Werdum who was on a five-fight win streak.

The opening rounds were a bit back-and-forth and the arena in Mexico City was hot for their native Velasquez, however, the altitude proved to be too much for ‘Cardio Cain’ to handle as he gassed out in the third round.

Velasquez then shot in for a takedown on the Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist and was immediately wrapped up in a nasty guillotine choke. Velasquez had no other choice but to tap out and make Werdum the undisputed heavyweight champion of the world.

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Frank Mir: I’m ‘Pissed’ CM Punk Is Fighting In UFC

Once CM Punk signed with the UFC in December of 2014, everyone had an opinion on the UFC’s decision to sign the former WWE star, who has no previous MMA experience. Nearly two years later, Punk will be finally stepping inside the world famous October this Saturday night at The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland,

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Once CM Punk signed with the UFC in December of 2014, everyone had an opinion on the UFC’s decision to sign the former WWE star, who has no previous MMA experience. Nearly two years later, Punk will be finally stepping inside the world famous October this Saturday night at The Quicken Loans Arena in Cleveland, Ohio when he takes on Mickey Gall in a welterweight bout on the main card of UFC 203.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is clearly not a fan of Punk signing with the UFC and fighting in the promotion. Mir went off on Punk during a recent episode of his podcast Phone Booth Fighting.

“I’m gonna be honest, it pisses me off. I don’t like it. I’m trying to be impartial and not be a dick but the more we talk about this the more I’m getting angry at the situation because it’s bullsh*t. This is not a legitimate fight. This is not a legitimate UFC fight. We have these kind of fights in boxing … they have those celebrity matchups where it’s a name guy that shouldn’t be in there getting in there with somebody that has a novelty to it and people might turn it on for the novelty act behind it but you wouldn’t have it on the undercard of a Mayweather fight. They wouldn’t put those two together and the fact that we are putting that on there doesn’t sit well with me.”

Mir explained that MMA is trying to be legitimate and be as credible as boxing is but in his mind, a move to sign a former pro wrestler hurts the credibility of MMA.

“We want to be in New York and we want to be legitimate and we want to be even with boxing and have that kind of credibility, and boxing wouldn’t do this. I mean, they do do this but they don’t put it on the same card with their championship fights.”

Mir hopes that Punk is a mastermind at psychological warfare because he thinks Punk is a normal guy with no ambition to be a fighter.

“I hope that CM is just a mastermind at psychological warfare and that he’s purposefully putting this kind of footage out there to lull [Gall] down to make it to where [he] gets comfortable, to where [he thinks] maybe CM is not gonna be that good of a fighter. Watching him fight, I felt like I was down at the gym watching just normal guys that have no ambition to be fighters, just taking the class. I’ve seen some of the women taking the aerobic kickboxing class move better.”

“If he wins, it’s great, he pulls over some of the pro wrestling fans. If he loses, you still have a lot of pro wrestling fans tuning in and hopefully the rest of the card measures up to what we hope it measures up to and we have a lot of crossover fans that stick.”

You can listen to the podcast here.

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Former UFC Heavyweight Champion On CM Punk In UFC: “It Pisses Me Off”

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir recently discussed his opinion on CM Punk fighting inside the Octagon.

And let’s just say that Mir isn’t really digging it.

“I’m gonna be honest, it pisses me off. I don’t like it. I’m trying to be impart…

frank-mir-2

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir recently discussed his opinion on CM Punk fighting inside the Octagon.

And let’s just say that Mir isn’t really digging it.

“I’m gonna be honest, it pisses me off. I don’t like it. I’m trying to be impartial and not be a dick but the more we talk about this the more I’m getting angry at the situation because it’s (expletive),” Mir said on his podcast, Phone Booth Fighting (thanks to MMA Fighting for transcribing). “This is not a legitimate fight. This is not a legitimate UFC fight. We have these kind of fights in boxing, they have those celebrity matchups where it’s a name guy that shouldn’t be in there getting in there with somebody that has a novelty to it and people might turn it on for the novelty act behind it but you wouldn’t have it on the undercard of a (Floyd) Mayweather fight. They wouldn’t put those two together and the fact that we are putting that on there doesn’t sit well with me.

“We want to be in New York and we want to be legitimate and we want to be even with boxing and have that kind of credibility, and boxing wouldn’t do this. I mean, they do do this but they don’t put it on the same card with their championship fights.”

Mir knows something about welcoming former pro wrestlers to the Octagon, as he fought Brock Lesnar in Lesnar’s second-ever MMA bout and first with the UFC. Mir won that contest with a kneebar submission, though he was defeated in the rematch.

Punk faces Mickey Gall Saturday night at UFC 203. The former WWE champion will be competing in MMA for the very first time.

Shane Carwin Says He’s ‘Ready’ To Make UFC Return

Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin had a successful run in the UFC between 2008 and 2012, compiling a 4-2 record including four T/KO victories. Carwin was one of the heaviest hitters in the division with his most notable victory coming via stoppage over former champion Frank Mir. It’s safe to say that Carwin’s

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Former interim UFC heavyweight champion Shane Carwin had a successful run in the UFC between 2008 and 2012, compiling a 4-2 record including four T/KO victories. Carwin was one of the heaviest hitters in the division with his most notable victory coming via stoppage over former champion Frank Mir. It’s safe to say that Carwin’s presence was undoubtedly felt during his tenure with the world’s largest MMA promotion, and at age 41, he may be bringing that power back to the division.

Taking to his official Twitter account recently, the former titleholder said plain and simple that he was ‘ready’ to fight again:


Details regarding when this return could happen or who Carwin could be matched up against are currently unclear, but it will be a spectacle nonetheless. Carwin, however, may have missed a huge opportunity given the fact that fellow former champion Brock Lesnar recently returned at July 9’s UFC 200. Lesnar and Carwin met back at UFC 116 in a bout where Carwin nearly finished Lesnar in the opening frame before getting submitted in the second round. A rematch would have been epic to say the least, but “The Beast” is now dealing with a potential anti-doping violation, likely taking him out of the equation regarding a possible opponent for Carwin.

Who would you like to see Carwin meet upon his return to the suddenly booming UFC heavyweight division?

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