UFC 119: Frank Mir and The 10 Defining Moments Of His Career

When you talk about MMA's greatest submission specialists ever to fight at 265 pounds, how do end the conversation without mentioning Frank Mir?

We're talking about a vicious athlete who may be one of the more complete heavyweights in MMA history, considering that he can drop opponents, he can take them down (he wrestled in high school) and, of course, he can violently wrench extremities and necks to the point of gaining a technical submission.

He started off as a young prospect on the MMA scene before MMA fighters were really ever "ranked." Although he has suffered many a roadblock in his career, he has still managed to emerge as one of today's best fighters at 265 pounds. Some consider him among the UFC's top 10 contenders in the Heavyweight Division, despite having recently lost by KO to Shane Carwin at UFC 111.

He faces another stiff test in the form of Mirko "Cro Cop" Filipovic at UFC 119, the UFC's debut event in Indiana. Mir would have faced Antonio Minotauro Nogueira in a UFC 92 rematch had it not been for a knee injury to Minotauro.

Before we weigh in on Mir's chances against Minotauro's replacement (and former opponent, if you remember the PRIDE days), let's take a trip down memory lane and see the ten moments that have defined his career.

10. The Debut (UFC 34, Vs. Roberto Traven)

Few moments define a man's career in a major MMA organization quite like Mir's debut.

At UFC 34, Frank Mir--then 2-0--had such an occasion to have his defining debut, but in order to make it count, he had to go through another BJJ expert in Roberto Traven. Traven was making a return to the UFC after having made his MMA debut at UFC 11 against Dave Berry.

Traven may not go down as one of the best fighters in MMA history, but when he stepped out of the cage after UFC 34, he did have one honor under his belt:

He was the man who helped the world see how "for real" Frank Mir was, and the whole world slowly began to see how big Mir was going to be.

9. Is He Still a Pussy, Tank? (UFC 41, Vs. David "Tank" Abbott)

Back in the early days of the UFC, a win over a guy like Tank Abbott was like a win over someone like Randy Couture in this, the modern era.

Mike Goldberg even said that when this fight went down, "it'd been a long time since [the UFC] has seen Tank Abbott."

Let's say it like this: A win over Tank Abbott at the time of UFC 41 was the equivalent of a win over someone like Matt Hughes today.

Not that Tank was a UFC champion or a "greatest heavyweight" or anything, but he was a big deal, having participated in most of the early fights of the UFC.

Besides, Mir took this fight after his first career loss, to Ian Freeman.

The pit fighter did sprawl with Mir and did go to the ground with him, but the ground was where the younger Mir wanted Tank.

Mir didn't have the toe hold on with the technique we know of, but against a guy like Tank, Mir didn't really need his legs wrapped around Tank's right leg to get a good crank on the hold.

All he needed was to crank the toe hold; within 46 seconds, Tank had tapped out.

Unquestionably, Tank goes down as one of the toughest and scariest heavyweights to fight, because he did bring it every time.

In retrospect, that night was the night in which the torch was passed, and Frank Mir became the tough SOB who every fighter should've watched out for.

8. Mir Soundly Shuts Kongo Up (UFC 107, Vs. Cheick Kongo)

The trash talk between Cheick Kongo and Frank Mir was among some of the hottest in UFC history. Their UFC 107 fight? One of the quickest.

"You talk too much."

Everyone says that in some form when they talk about Frank Mir, but only five guys have ever been able to back it up.

Cheick Kongo is not one of those guys.

He talked about how he was going to shut Mir's mouth and how he was going to show him how to be humble and all that, even going so far as to turn their staredown at the UFC 107 weigh-in into a "stare-at-my-back" opportunity.

If you watch the video of their actual fight, though, Kongo never actually gets around to shutting Mir up.

Actually, I think in the fight, Mir dropped him and choked him out.

You watch the video and tell me if Mir thought he found himself getting on track once again.

7. This Thing Ain't So Big (UFC 81, Mir-Lesnar I)

To get it out of the way, "that's what she said."

OK, I'm done.

Now, everyone knows about the champ and his beef with Mir. Everyone knew after his first pro MMA win, Brock Lesnar made the decision to eye up the UFC.

He didn't BS Dana White: He wanted the toughest fighters in the UFC, and Dana assured him that the toughest fighters in the world were all he was going to get.

After Antoni Hardonk, it was hard to find an argument that Frank Mir wasn't as tough as the competition was going to get.

Not that Brock made it seem that way when their UFC 83 bout first started.

It didn't take long for Mir to get taken out of his element with a takedown and a few hammer fists from hell, but Mir's saving grace came in the form of a shot to the back of Mir's head.

After Steve Mazzagatti stood the fighters up, Lesnar took the fight to the ground again, even avoiding an armbar attempt. But Mir caught hold of the leg and secured a kneebar to hand Lesnar his first—and so far ONLY—career loss.

I wonder if Lesnar had a Bud Light after that fight...hmmm.

Probably not.

6. The First Loss Is Always a Tough Loss (UFC 38, Vs. Ian Freeman)

He tried kneebars, heel hooks, and as many other submissions as he could, but he couldn't get the "W."

He tried standing up, but found himself getting worked on the feet. Eventually he had trouble standing up at all.

That's Frank Mir's UFC 38 bout with Ian "The Machine" Freeman in a nutshell.

From the start, the bout was a wild striking war with caution being thrown to the wind as both men swung with lefts, rights, and even a few kicks.

Mir tried for a number of submissions throughout, but Freeman defended them all. After doing some heavy damage on the feet, he cut Mir open.

When the ref tried to stand both fighters up, Mir had trouble standing himself up, which prompted a stop to the fight.

Mir had been knocked down for sure by an obviously much-stronger fighter, but it takes a strong fighter to bounce back after losing to a strong fighter.

5. Mir Vs. Sylvia: Mir Beats The Man To Become The Man (UFC 48, Vs. Tim Sylvia)

He breaks limbs, and hey, it got him a title here. Bravo, Frank.

After Mir's first few fights in the UFC, the general consensus was that he deserved a shot at the UFC Heavyweight belt, which was then held by Tim Sylvia. At 265 pounds, Sylvia was by no means an easy opponent for any man.

Sylvia could stand and he could take the fight to the ground if he needed to; but going to the ground ended up being a bad idea for Sylvia—just as it had been for all but Ian Freeman in Mir's prior fights.

In one of the most famous bouts in UFC history, Mir scored a technical submission by armbar on Sylvia at only 50 seconds into the first Round.

We say "technical" because Sylvia's arm was broken in the fight; Herb Dean had to halt the fight once he saw Sylvia's arm bend in that weird angle. Sylvia never tapped out.

At the end of the night, whether Sylvia tapped or not, the fact was that the UFC had a new Heavyweight Champion.

Unfortunately, it didn't last for long.

4. The Motorcycle Accident That Cost Him The Title

Frank Mir stands as one of the few champions in UFC history to have vacated his title rather than lose it, but vacating a belt isn't as major as almost losing your life.

On September 17th, 2004—just days before his wedding to Jennifer, then-champ Mir hopped on his brother's Suzuki motorcycle for a ride, as he was going out of town for the wedding.

He ran into a car making a left-hand turn and his head (protected by a helmet) hit a curb. Doctors say he then flew about 80 feet from the motorcycle, causing much damage to Mir.

The most notable injury was to Mir's knee, but his doctors were able to eventually mend the damage.

Now how did something like this, a life-changing moment, affect his career?

Mir would gradually recover from the surgery, but because of the accident, he had to surrender the UFC Heavyweight title that he'd won from Sylvia almost four months earlier.

What the knee surgery did for the man himself: It reinvented Frank Mir.

From that point on, Frank Mir was a changed man, although it took him a few fights before he was able to say he was truly back in top form.

3. How To Take Your Minotauro By The Horns (UFC 92, Vs. Minotauro Nogueira)

Cro Cop's head kicks couldn't do it.

A cyborg blast from stoic Fedor Emelianenko's hands couldn't do it.

Hell, not even The Maine-iac, Tim Sylvia, could do it.

Frank Mir was the one to hand Minotauro Nogueira the Brazilian's very first career loss by TKO.

Give Minotauro credit where it's due: he hung on tight throughout the fight, but he couldn't hold on forever.

Oh well, at least we can dream about what would've happened if it was Lesnar vs. Nogueira at UFC 100.

2. Frank Mir: A Name To Remember (UFC 36, Vs. Pete Williams)

This defined who Frank Mir was, is, and always will be: The scariest motherf**ker to ever learn how to wrench extremities.

The video caption says it all.

Few moments in Mir's career have said anything about who he is as a fighter quite like his fight with Pete Williams.

From the onset of the fight, Mir pushed the pace and caught Williams with a few tough strikes, including a head kick to Williams.

All the striking was enough to get Williams to back up, and set up the situation that Mir wanted: the fight on the floor with Mir in control of an unfortunate extremity.

An inside-shoulder lock did in Williams at only 46 seconds of the fight, and established Mir as one of the UFC's most dangerous submission masters.

1. Frank Still Wants To F**king Fight, Dana (UFC 74, Vs Antoni Hardonk)

Frank Mir suffered losses to Marcio Cruz and Brandon Vera after he came back from the motorcycle accident, with the only win being a lackluster, unanimous decision over Dan Christison.

That all changed in about a minute and 17 seconds of his bout with Antoni Hardonk at UFC 74.

When Mir got the fight to the ground this time, he looked for a Kimura, but Hardonk rolled out of it.

Not one to be a quitter, Mir kept a hold on that arm until the Kimura was on to where Hardonk had to tap.

What made the outcome that much more special were two things:

Mir's wife shown in tears as her husband celebrated in the cage, an emotional sight for anyone who knew what had happened to him; and Frank Mir pointing to his chest and saying what the whole world knew for a fact at that time:

Whether you liked him or not, Frank Mir was back.

Will Cro Cop Be Next?

Gary M. Prior/Getty Images

MANCHESTER, UNITED KINGDOM - APRIL 21: A pensive Mirko Cro Cop of Croatia walks to the octagon before fighting Gabriel Gonzaga of USA in a Heavyweight bout of the Ultimate Fighting Championship at the Manchester Evening News Arena on April 21, 2007 in Man

It's real simple: Mir vs. Cro Cop is all about relevancy in the 265-pound division of the UFC in 2011.

Plan and simple, Mir can take the fight anywhere, though the question of whether Cro Cop can still lingers.

It'd behoove Cro Cop to take a final glance at the entire career of Frank Mir, not just the fights that Mir has lost.

If Cro Cop can find an opening to land a hard shot or kick, he can put Mir in trouble. But Mir doesn't get in trouble too easily.

He's only been in trouble five times, and I honestly have to question what would support the logic that Cro Cop will make number six.

If you ask me, Cro Cop is a legend, but at UFC 119 this Saturday, he's be another legend that Frank Mir has to take down and take out to get his shot at one more title fight.

It won't matter if it's Cain, Junior, or Brock holding the belt by that time.

What matters is that the champ is watching what Mir does to Cro Cop in Indiana, because somewhere along the line, he could be the one who has to face Mir.

And when you face Frank Mir, there's no such thing as an easy fight...or a fight in which your limbs don't risk getting permanently damaged.