Frank Mir : The Road Back To The Heavyweight Tilte

On June 19th, 2004, Frank Mir fought Tim "The Main-iac" Sylvia for the UFC Heavyweight Championship. Frank Mir took 50 seconds to submit the big man and become the new champion.

Frank Mir had lost only one fight since arriving in the UFC and people were predicting a bright future for a young and talented Frank Mir and sure enough, he made it to the top of the heavyweight division at UFC 48.

Unfortunately for Frank Mir, disaster was waiting for him just around the corner. Three months after his big title win, he was laying in a hospital bed with a badly broken leg. Mir had been hit by a car while on his motorcycle and his leg took the shot.

Frank Mir was stripped of the heavyweight title and everything seemed lost as far as his fighting career was concerned.

But Mir is a fighter, he was born in a martial arts family from parents who ran a kenpo karate school. Mir was born in Las Vegas Nevada in 1979. He began wrestling and went on to lose his first seven fights but still managed to become the state heavyweight wrestling champion in 1998.

Frank Mir met UFC match-maker Joe Silva, who was really impressed with Frank's ability that he suggested him to come to the UFC, an offer Frank Mir accepted after winning several amateur fights. Mir ended up making his UFC debut at UFC 34 in 2001, submitting MMA veteran Roberto Traven in about 1 minute.

Still, the Frank Mir that made his UFC debut at UFC 34, was very different than the Frank Mir that returned to the octagon at UFC 57 in 2006. A year-and-a-half after his accident, Mir returned to take on Marcio Cruz a relative newcomer to the UFC. In a shocking upset, Cruz defeated Mir by TKO in the very first round.

Mir's next two fights were also less than impressive, first winning a unanimous decision against TUF 2 fighter Dan Christison at UFC 61 and then losing in the first round against Brandon Vera at UFC 65 by TKO.

Frank Mir is now one of the four men competing in the small tournament for the UFC heavyweight championship. He is scheduled to fight UFC interim heavyweight champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92, the same man he has coached against on season eight of TUF. When looking at these two fighters, they seem identical.

Both guys are awesome BJJ fighters neither one of them has ever lost by submission, both men's striking ability is rather "ordinary". The only differences... Frank Mir is a more explosive fighter but Nogueira has better cardio.

Still alot of people are counting Mir out of his fight against Nogueira and I wonder why?

Frank Mir won seven of his 12 UFC fights in less then three minutes, impressive isn't it? He never loss by submission and is considered one of the best heavyweight BJJ fighters in all of MMA. So why are we counting Mir out of his UFC 92 bout with "Big Nog"?

Mir had a rough return to the UFC with losses to Cruz and Vera but he seems back into the mix with victories over Antoni Hardonk and Brock Lesnar with round one submissions coming in less then two minutes. Frank Mir hopefully is back and better then ever, if the old Frank Mir is back, Nog should watch out.

Mir is a great BJJ fighter, I think if he losses it will be a matter of his lack of cardiovascular ability, but I wouldn't be surprised to see him win.

Nogueira is a great fighter, but I feel he's often overrated. I really like Frank Mir and hope he ends up winning this mini tournament. It's a long shot considering the fighters he's up against (Nog, Couture, Lesnar), but he can pull it off if he really wants to.

The question is... is the passion still there for Frank Mir?