Frank Mir (born Francisco Santos Miranda III) () (born May 24, 1979), is an American former mixed martial artist. He competed in the heavyweight division of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) throughout the 2000s and 2010s, before finishing his pro MMA career in Bellator MMA in 2019. A former UFC Heavyweight Champion, he holds the record for the most submission victories in UFC Heavyweight history. A 27-fight UFC veteran, Mir formerly possessed the longest uninterrupted tenure of any fighter in the promotion's history, as he was under UFC contract from November 2001 until July 2017. He was the first man to knock out and the first to submit Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira.
Background
Born and raised in Las Vegas, Nevada, Mir began training and competing in American Kenpo at a school owned by his parents, earning his black belt as a teenager. Mir's father played a major role in convincing him to begin wrestling on the basis that it could help him avoid submissions. Mir joined the wrestling team at Bonanza High School during his junior year and lost his first nine matches. During his senior year (1998) he went 44–1 and won the state championship. Mir defeated Traven by armbar at 1:05 of round one, earning "Tapout of the Night" in the process. Mir's next UFC match was against Lion's Den fighter and eight-time UFC veteran Pete Williams at UFC 36: Worlds Collide on March 22, 2002. Mir submitted Williams in 46 seconds with an inside shoulder lock that has since been named after himself. It was the only submission loss of Williams' career.
Mir faced Ian Freeman in London, England, at UFC 38: Brawl at the Hall on July 13, 2002. Despite several leglock attempts by Mir, Freeman achieved side control four minutes into the first round and landed numerous punches and elbows to Mir's head. A time out was called due to a cut on Mir's face. After Freeman separated, the referee signaled to Mir to stand back up and stopped the fight after Mir struggled to do so.
Mir then faced Tank Abbott at UFC 41 on February 28, 2003. Mir submitted Abbott with a toe hold in 46 seconds. On June 26, 2003, Mir fought Wes Sims at UFC 43: Meltdown. Mir won by disqualification at 2:55 of the first round after Sims stomped on Mir's jaw following a slam escape of an armbar attempt by Mir. They would rematch at UFC 46: Supernatural on January 31, 2004. Mir won by knockout at 4:21 of the second round.
Heavyweight championship
On June 19, 2004, Mir faced Tim Sylvia for the vacant UFC Heavyweight Championship at UFC 48: Payback. Referee Herb Dean stopped the fight 50 seconds into the first round after Mir broke Sylvia's right forearm with a straight armbar. Sylvia initially protested the call but relented following a replay of the break. He was taken to a nearby hospital where an x-ray showed that his arm was broken in four places, two in both the radius and ulna bones of his right forearm. Sylvia underwent surgery later that week.
Motorcycle injury
On September 17, 2004, Mir was knocked off his motorcycle by a car. The accident caused two breaks in Mir's femur and tore all the ligaments in his knee. An Interim Heavyweight Championship was created while Mir recovered from surgery, which Andrei Arlovski won by defeating Tim Sylvia via first round submission. On August 12, 2005, the UFC learned that Mir would not be able to face Andrei Arlovski in October as scheduled and stripped him of the title after 14 months, promoting Arlovski to undisputed UFC Heavyweight Champion. In 2010, Mir told FIGHT! Magazine that he was grateful for the accident as it gave him time to be with his wife.
Return to the UFC
In his first bout since the accident, Mir fought 4th degree BJJ black belt and six-time Mundials champion Márcio Cruz at UFC 57: Liddell vs. Couture 3 on February 4, 2006. In a shocking upset, Mir was defeated by first-round TKO. He returned to the octagon on July 8, 2006, at UFC 61: Bitter Rivals against Dan Christison. Mir won by unanimous decision when all three judges scored the bout 29–28. Mir was widely criticized following the bout due to his sloppy appearance and inability to finish a seemingly mismatched opponent. Despite the criticism, Mir was subsequently matched with Brandon Vera at UFC 65: Bad Intentions to determine the number one contender. Mir showed improved striking ability but was quickly stunned by a straight right from Vera, who then dropped him with knees from the Muay Thai clinch. Vera then secured side control and delivered a number of punches and elbows, forcing the referee to stop the fight at 1:09 of the first round. While preparing for UFC 140, Mir attributed his poor performance in his initial return bouts to lingering health issues following the accident.
Rise back to title contention
Mir was scheduled to fight kickboxer Antoni Hardonk at UFC Fight Night 9 on April 5, 2007, but had to drop out due to a shoulder injury. He faced Hardonk at UFC 74 and won via kimura at 1:17 of the first round. At the end of the bout, Mir walked to the cameras pointing at himself saying "I'm back!". Frank's wife Jennifer was shown on the replay screaming and crying with joy when Frank secured the kimura and the fight was stopped.
On February 2, 2008, at UFC 81, Mir welcomed former WWE wrestler Brock Lesnar to the octagon for Lesnar's highly anticipated debut. It took Lesnar less than 10 seconds to shoot for a takedown and muscle Mir to the mat. However, seconds after Lesnar began to unload strikes from Mir's half guard, referee Steve Mazzagatti controversially deemed that there were some illegal punches landed to the back of Mir's head, drawing a foul and a one-point deduction. The fighters were ordered to stand up, and Mir was given a brief recovery period. As the fight resumed, Mir was almost instantly dropped with a big punch from Lesnar. Lesnar continued to land punches on Mir and shucked off Mir's armbar attempt before moving to a stacked guard. It was here that Mir caught Lesnar with a kneebar, causing Lesnar to tap out at 1:30 of the first round. Mir was awarded with Submission of the Night honors.
The Ultimate Fighter season 8
Spike TV announced on May 12, 2008, that former UFC champion Frank Mir would face off with the current UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion and former PRIDE Heavyweight Champion Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira as the coaches for the eighth season of The Ultimate Fighter. The season, which premiered on Spike TV on September 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, and concluded in December. This bout was part of a mini-Heavyweight tournament, often hyped by UFC president Dana White. The winner of this fight would then face the winner of the match between the Heavyweight Champion Randy Couture and Brock Lesnar. Lesnar defeated Couture by TKO in the second round, earning him the Heavyweight Championship belt in the process and setting him up to face the winner of Nogueira/Mir to unify the belts.