D.P.

Height 6 ft 3 in
Weight 251 lb (114 kg)
Reach 79 in
Nationality Flag of the United States American
Born May 24, 1979
Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nevada
Team/Association Striking Unlimited
Primary fighting style Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing

Wins 12
By knockout 2
By submission 7
Losses 3

Bio

Born into a martial arts family, a young Mir learned the basics of combat from his father's Kenpō karate school in Las Vegas. While watching the first Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) event, UFC 1: The Beginning, Mir was not yet convinced of the benefits in learning Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu: "I was fourteen watching the first UFC with my father and everyone was getting taken down and choked out by this scrawny Royce Gracie. I could not believe it was happening! 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."

His father convinced him to begin wrestling, on the basis that it could help him avoid submissions; however, "I was covering up a weakness rather than fixing one," Mir suggested. Despite losing his first seven wrestling matches, Mir went on to win the state heavyweight wrestling title in 1998. In 2004 after defeating Tim Sylvia at UFC 48: Payback Mir received his black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu from Ricardo Pires after only 5 years of training.

Mir worked as a bouncer at the Spearmint Rhino strip club in Las Vegas before entering the UFC, and continues to work as Director of Security there while pursuing his UFC career. In addition to fighting, Mir also is a color commentator for World Extreme Cagefighting.

MMA career

Mir met UFC matchmaker Joe Silva at a school Silva was visiting. Silva saw potential in Mir as a future UFC fighter and suggested that he first prove himself against some fighters in the mixed martial arts community. Mir would make his professional MMA debut against Jerome Smith at HOOKnSHOOT: Showdown on July 14, 2001. Mir won the bout by judges' decision after two rounds. He won another match by submission at IFC Warriors Challenge 15. After these events, Silva proposed a match up between Mir and Roberto Travern, a new UFC fighter; Mir accepted the offer.

Mir defeated Roberto Travern by armbar at 1:05 of round one at UFC 34: High Voltage on November 2, 2001. The submission earned Mir the "Tapout of the Night" award.

Mir's next match in the UFC was against Pete Williams and took place at UFC 36: Worlds Collide on March 22, 2002. Mir submitted the veteran Williams (who had never been submitted before) with a shoulder lock (that has since been named after Mir) in only 0:46 in the first round.

He faced Ian Freeman, at UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall, held in London, England on July 13, 2002. Despite several leglock attempts by Mir, Freeman achieved side control at around four minutes into the first round, landing numerous elbows and punches on Mir's head. After Freeman separated, the referee signaled an exhausted Mir to stand back up. A time out was called due to an apparent cut on Mir's face, and the referee stopped the fight when a wobbly Mir had difficulty standing up.

On June 26, 2003 Mir fought Wes Sims at UFC 43: Meltdown. Mir won by disqualification at 2:55 of round one after Sims stomped down on Mir's face after slamming his way out of Mir's armbar attempt. They would rematch at UFC 46: Supernatural on January 31, 2004. Frank Mir won by knockout at 4:21 of round two.

Heavyweight champion

On June 19, 2004, Mir faced Tim Sylvia for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 48: Payback. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight at 50 seconds into the first round when Mir's armbar visibly broke Sylvia's right forearm. Mir trapped Sylvia’s right arm in an armbar attempt. When Sylvia tried to pull out of the hold, Mir jerked back harder and Sylvia’s radius bone snapped about 3 inches below his elbow. Sylvia repeatedly claimed his arm was not broken, even touching it and moving it around to show he was O.K. Sylvia was taken to the nearby hospital where an x-ray showed that his arm was in fact broken.

With this TKO win Mir became the new UFC Heavyweight Champion and later received his Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black-belt for his performance in the fight.

Motorcycle injury

On September 17, 2004, Mir was knocked off his motorcycle by a car. The accident caused a break in Mir's femur and tore all the ligaments in his knee. The bone had broken in two places but the injury did not end Mir's career as a fighter. Major surgery was needed to repair the bone in his leg. An interim heavyweight title was created whilst Mir was recovering from the injury, which Andrei Arlovski won. On August 12, 2005, the UFC learned that Mir was not able to fight Andrei Arlovski in October as scheduled, thus Mir was stripped of the title after 14 months, and Arlovski was promoted to the undisputed UFC heavyweight champion.

Return to the UFC

Mir recovered from his motorcycle accident and fought Márcio Cruz at UFC 57: Liddell vs. Couture 3 on February 4, 2006. In a shocking upset, Mir was defeated by the relative newcomer in the first round by TKO due to strikes. Initially, referee Herb Dean called for a break to check a large cut on Mir's face. Mir was given the opportunity to continue, and did so.

Mir returned to the Octagon on July 8, 2006 at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals and faced Dan Christison. Mir had gained a considerable amount of weight since his last appearance and quickly became exhausted. Mir won, in a very disapointing, lackluster fashion by unanimous decision after three rounds, the judges all scored the bout 29-28. Critism began to flourish with Mir not looking the same fighter as he was before, both physically and technically.

Mir next faced Brandon Vera at UFC 65: Bad Intentions. Mir was unable to mount any significant offense against Vera, and lost by TKO at 1:09 of the first round. After, Mir drew very heavy critism, critics and fans alike wrote him off saying that he had not and will not be the same since the motorcycle accident. Frank Mir's previously bright career appeared to be dim from here on out. He later commented on a UFC build-up show that during this run of bad performances, "I lost to a guy that shouldn't even of been a heavyweight".

Frank Mir was scheduled to fight Antoni Hardonk at UFC Fight Night 9 on April 5, 2007, but had to drop out due to a shoulder injury. Mir recovered from the shoulder injury and fought Antoni Hardonk at UFC 74 and won via kimura in 1:17 of the first round. At the end of the bout, Mir walked to the cameras pointing at himself saying "I'm back!".

Mir fought Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 on February 2, 2008. Early in the first round, Lesnar took Mir down and, while striking from Mir's guard, landed a couple of illegal punches to the back of Mir's head, drawing a foul and a one-point deduction from referee Steve Mazzagatti. They were stood up and Mir was given a brief recovery period, but Lesnar quickly took Mir down again. When Lesnar escaped an armbar attempt, Mir caught him with a kneebar, causing Lesnar to tap out at 1:30 of the first round.

The Ultimate Fighter Season 8

Spike TV on May 12, 2008 announced that the UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and former champion Frank Mir would be the coaches for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter.
The Ultimate Fighter season 8.

The season, which premiered on Spike TV on Sept. 17, returned to the two-weight class format. It featured light heavyweight and lightweight fighters. Production on season eight began in late May, with the entire cast announced in September.

Interim Heavyweight Championship Title Shot

Frank Mir fought Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 for the UFC Interim Heavyweight Championship. This bout was part of a mini-heavyweight tournament, often hyped by Dana White. The winner of the heavyweight champion - Randy Couture vs Brock Lesnar, which took place at UFC 91, was set to face the winner of Mir vs Nogueria. Lesnar won by TKO in the third round, gaining him the heavyweight championship belt in the process and setting him to face the winner at UFC 92 to unify the belts.

Frank Mir then won in the second round via TKO due to strikes, showing much improved striking by knocking Nogueira down twice in the first round, and once in the second. He also scored a Judo-trip takedown in round one. Herb Dean stopped the match at 1:54 of the second round. Nogueira's loss marked the first time he had lost a fight by TKO. In a post fight interview, Mir credited his improved striking to a drastic improvement in conditioning.

Heavyweight Championship Unification

Frank Mir's victory over Nogueira set in place a re-match with the UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar for the Undisputed Heavyweight championship. However, Mir has stated, that in his opinion, holding victories over former Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 and current UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar at UFC 81 is enough to recognize him as the owner of the ‘real belt’. On May 23, 2009 in Las Vegas, Nevada, Frank Mir was scheduled to fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 98, however due to a knee injury sustained during training (in which the knee had to be scoped and cleaned) the fight has been rescheduled for UFC 100. Coincidentally, Mir’s injury and corresponding surgery was to the meniscus of his knee, which is the exact same ailment that Noguiera endured, perhaps unwisely, during UFC 92.