Frank Mir Fighter Profile - Ultimate Fighter

Francisco Santos Mir III is simply known as Frank Mir. But that is as simple as his career in Mixed Martial Arts will get. He was born on June 24th, 1979 in Las Vegas Nevada into a family that had already had a bit of history involving martial arts training. His parents ran a Kenpo Karate school in Las Vegas, and Frank Mir was a student right from the start. By five years old he was already involved in tournaments and earning trophies for various victories and eventually earn his black belt. Frank Mir would also soon find himself towering over his peers as he reached a height of 6 feet at the age of 12. This would lead him to challenge older teens and adults and develop his skills more rapidly. When he was defeated during a kickboxing match, Mir decided he wanted to improve in other areas of fighting. 
Frank and his father were able to watch the Pay Per View coverage of the very first UFC event that was held in November, 1993 in Denver Colorado. This was a very significant event in the young man’s life as the match inspired his father to convince Frank to take up wrestling even though the young man was very adamant about it. 
“I was fourteen watching the first UFC with my father and everyone was getting taken down and chocked out by this scrawny Royce Gracie. I couldn’t believe it was happening!” said Gracie during an interview. “My dad wanted to learn what they were doing right off the bat, but I defended what I already knew. I thought I could adjust for it. I felt I could defend against Jiu Jitsu instead of being humble and trying to learn it”.  Frank would lose his first seven wrestling matches, but once he got the hang of it he would go on to win the Nevada State High School Heavyweight wrestling title in 1998.
The start of his MMA career can be traced to when he met Joe Silva at the first time at a school that Silva was visiting. It was here that Silva saw potential in the young Frank Mir and wanted to see him challenge fighters that were already involved in the Mixed Martial Arts community. During HOOKnSHOOT on July 14th 2001, Frank would make his first professional MMA appearance against Jerome Smith, winning by judges decision after two rounds. After his next successful match, Silva would return and discuss prospects with Frank. 
Joe Silva would propose a match up between Mir and Robert Travern, one of the newest fighters to enter the UFC ring. At UFC 34 -High Voltage, the two would meet in the Octagon, but it would be Mir that would walk away victorious and leave Travern with a broken arm. The victory was so stupendous that it earned Mir the “Tapout of the Night” award. Silva was so impressed that he continued to bring Mir back for additional UFC appearances. The next three he would win, but Ian Freeman would halt his climb to the top.
His match with Ian “The Machine” Freeman would start with several decent legblocks by Mir, but eventually Freeman would get several elbows and punches through Mir’s defense, striking him in the head multiple times. When Mir went down to the mat, and was too exhausted to stand back up, the referee stopped the fight giving the victory to Freeman. 
After several come-back victories, including against David “The Tank” Abbot, and Wes Sims, Frank Mir was able to challenge Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 48. 50 seconds into the fight Mir would break Sylvia’s right forearm and win by technical submission and claim the title. Soon after a personal tragedy would strike. While riding his motorcycle on the way to a work out, He would be struck by a car going over 50 mph. The accident was massive and it was lucky that Mir survived at all. He sustained a broken leg, and massive tendon and muscle damage. Despite Frank Mir’s determination to fight again he wouldn’t have the ability to do so until February of 2006. By this time it was too late. The UFC had come to the conclusion that Frank Mir would never be able to return to the match to defend his title (despite having created an Interim Heavyweight title to give him extra time), and it was stripped from him and later claimed by Andrei Arlovski (who currently still holds it).
Today Frank Mir continues to train and spend his time with his wife and three kids in his hometown of Las Vegas. Sometimes considered one-dimensional because of his persistence to end each match with a submission, Mir is learning to improvise and improve upon his striking techniques. Although recovered from his injuries, he still feels he has a lot of work to do to get to the same condition that he used to be. And even from there he intends to improve. And hopefully will have another shot to reclaim his title. 
UFC 60: Former champ Mir took on Ultimate Fighter alumni Christison.  The best adjective I could use to describe this fight: lazy, especially on Mir’s part.  For the better portion of the fight, Mir is barely even holding his arms up.  In round 3, he becomes aggressive for a short time, but overall Christison still looks like he should win based on the first two rounds.  The judges, however, give the unanimous decision to Frank Mir.  Eddie Bravo and the crowd disagree.
Fight Record 9-3-0
<ul>
<li>11-18-2006 - Loss to Brandon Vera, UFC 65, TKO Round 1, 1:09 </li>
<li>07-08-2006 - Defeats Dan Christison UFC 61, Unanimous Decision </li>
<li>02-04-2006 - Loss to Marcio Cruz, UFC 57, TKO Round 1, 4:10 </li>
<li>06-19-2005 - Defeats Tim Sylvia, UFC 48, Submission, Round 1, 0:50 Wins HW Belt. </li>
<li>01-31-2004 - Defeats Wes Sims, UFC 46, KO Round 2, 4:21 </li>
<li>06-06-2003 - Defeats Wes Sims, UFC 43, DQ Stomping a downed Opponent </li>
<li>02-28-2003 - Defeats Tank Abbott, UFC 41, Submission Round 1, 0:46 </li>
<li>07-13-2002 - Lost to Ian Freeman, UFC 38, TKO(Cut) Round 1, 4:35 </li>
<li>03-22-2002 - Defeats Pete Williams, UFC 36, Submission Round 1, 0:46 </li>
<li>11-02-2001 - Defeats Roberto Traven, UFC 34, Submission Round 1, 1:05 </li>
<li>08-31-2001 - Defeats Dan Quinn, IFC WC 15, Submission Round 1, 2:15 </li>
<li>07-14-2001 - Defeats Jerome Smith, HooknShoot SD, Decision</li></ul>

Weight Class Eligible for Top 10 ( tick if yes )

( Seperate each weight class with a space. Tags for weight classes are: lw = light weight, mw = middle weight, lhw = light hw, he = heavy weight )

What did you change? In an effort to make editorial approval easier please specify briefly the changes you made to the bio. If you updated the fight record, say so, improved the bio explain how. Simple, short but clear explanations please! When changes are approved you will get POINTS and also credit for the last change.

Frank Miller's "300" Video Diary 3	Frank Miller's "300" Video Diary 5
Frank Shamrock's Tip of the Week	Frank Montage
Frank on JT in Goal BMC	frank patinando

Frank and his father were able to watch the Pay Per View coverage of the very first UFC event that was held in November, 1993 in Denver Colorado. This was a very significant event in the young man’s life as the match inspired his father to convince Frank to take up wrestling even though the young man was very adamant about it.

“I was fourteen watching the first UFC with my father and everyone was getting taken down and chocked out by this scrawny Royce Gracie. I couldn’t believe it was happening!” said Gracie during an interview. “My dad wanted to learn what they were doing right off the bat, but I defended what I already knew. I thought I could adjust for it. I felt I could defend against Jiu Jitsu instead of being humble and trying to learn it”. Frank would lose his first seven wrestling matches, but once he got the hang of it he would go on to win the Nevada State High School Heavyweight wrestling title in 1998.

The start of his MMA career can be traced to when he met Joe Silva at the first time at a school that Silva was visiting. It was here that Silva saw potential in the young Frank Mir and wanted to see him challenge fighters that were already involved in the Mixed Martial Arts community. During HOOKnSHOOT on July 14th 2001, Frank would make his first professional MMA appearance against Jerome Smith, winning by judges decision after two rounds. After his next successful match, Silva would return and discuss prospects with Frank.

Joe Silva would propose a match up between Mir and Robert Travern, one of the newest fighters to enter the UFC ring. At UFC 34 -High Voltage, the two would meet in the Octagon, but it would be Mir that would walk away victorious and leave Travern with a broken arm. The victory was so stupendous that it earned Mir the “Tapout of the Night” award. Silva was so impressed that he continued to bring Mir back for additional UFC appearances. The next three he would win, but Ian Freeman would halt his climb to the top.

His match with Ian “The Machine” Freeman would start with several decent legblocks by Mir, but eventually Freeman would get several elbows and punches through Mir’s defense, striking him in the head multiple times. When Mir went down to the mat, and was too exhausted to stand back up, the referee stopped the fight giving the victory to Freeman.

After several come-back victories, including against David “The Tank” Abbot, and Wes Sims, Frank Mir was able to challenge Tim Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight title at UFC 48. 50 seconds into the fight Mir would break Sylvia’s right forearm and win by technical submission and claim the title. Soon after a personal tragedy would strike. While riding his motorcycle on the way to a work out, He would be struck by a car going over 50 mph. The accident was massive and it was lucky that Mir survived at all. He sustained a broken leg, and massive tendon and muscle damage. Despite Frank Mir’s determination to fight again he wouldn’t have the ability to do so until February of 2006. By this time it was too late. The UFC had come to the conclusion that Frank Mir would never be able to return to the match to defend his title (despite having created an Interim Heavyweight title to give him extra time), and it was stripped from him and later claimed by Andrei Arlovski (who currently still holds it).

Today Frank Mir continues to train and spend his time with his wife and three kids in his hometown of Las Vegas. Sometimes considered one-dimensional because of his persistence to end each match with a submission, Mir is learning to improvise and improve upon his striking techniques. Although recovered from his injuries, he still feels he has a lot of work to do to get to the same condition that he used to be. And even from there he intends to improve. And hopefully will have another shot to reclaim his title.

UFC 60: Former champ Mir took on Ultimate Fighter alumni Christison. The best adjective I could use to describe this fight: lazy, especially on Mir’s part. For the better portion of the fight, Mir is barely even holding his arms up. In round 3, he becomes aggressive for a short time, but overall Christison still looks like he should win based on the first two rounds. The judges, however, give the unanimous decision to Frank Mir. Eddie Bravo and the crowd disagree.

Fight Record 9-3-0

11-18-2006 - Loss to Brandon Vera, UFC 65, TKO Round 1, 1:09
07-08-2006 - Defeats Dan Christison UFC 61, Unanimous Decision
02-04-2006 - Loss to Marcio Cruz, UFC 57, TKO Round 1, 4:10
06-19-2005 - Defeats Tim Sylvia, UFC 48, Submission, Round 1, 0:50 Wins HW Belt.
01-31-2004 - Defeats Wes Sims, UFC 46, KO Round 2, 4:21
06-06-2003 - Defeats Wes Sims, UFC 43, DQ Stomping a downed Opponent
02-28-2003 - Defeats Tank Abbot, UFC 41, Submission Round 1, 0:46
07-13-2002 - Lost to Ian Freeman, UFC 38, TKO(Cut) Round 1, 4:35
03-22-2002 - Defeats Pete Williams, UFC 36, Submission Round 1, 0:46
11-02-2001 - Defeats Roberto Traven, UFC 34, Submission Round 1, 1:05
08-31-2001 - Defeats Dan Quinn, IFC WC 15, Submission Round 1, 2:15
07-14-2001 - Defeats Jerome Smith, HooknShoot SD, Decision

This page was last updated on by misfit