Biography and Profile of Frank Mir

The Biography of Frank Mir starts on May 24, 1979, in Las Vegas, Nevada. He was born Francisco Santos “Frank” Mir III.Frank Mir is an MMA fighter that trains out of Striking Unlimited in Las Vegas. He fights for the UFC.Both of Mir's parents were martial arts practitioners. In fact, his father owned a Kenpo karate school in Las Vegas, which is where his initial martial arts training took place. Mir achieved a black belt in Kenpo as a teenager.

Mir's father convinced him to begin wrestling in high school after seeing how easily strikers were taken down in the initial UFC tournaments. Though Mir lost his first seven wrestling matches, he did eventually win a state championship in the sport in 1998. Upon graduation, he began training in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu and received his black belt in it from Ricardo Pires in 2004.

Mir's MMA debut came on July 14, 2001. On that night, he defeated Jerome Smith by way of unanimous decision. From there, he defeated his next three opponents by way of submission, including Pete Williams at UFC 36 by shoulder lock.

His victory over Williams announced to the world that the former Kenpo practitioner was now one of the world's most dangerous submission fighters.

Mir was considered the future of the UFC heavyweight division back in 2002. So when he took on England's own Ian Freeman in his backyard on July 17, 2002, at UFC 38, most believed that another submission victory was a foregone conclusion. But they were wrong.

Mir fell by way of first round TKO after clearly fatiguing rather quickly. His performance caused many to wonder about his cardio and drive to succeed. Regardless, Mir picked up his winning ways after the Freeman encounter rather quickly.

Mir finally got the chance to prove that he was championship worthy at UFC 48: Payback on June 19, 2004. In sum, only 50 seconds into his match with Tim Sylvia he caught his 6-foot-8 adversary in an armbar from his guard. Sylvia proved his toughness by refusing to tap out. Unfortunately for him, that resulted in a rather gruesome broken arm on PPV television.

With the win, Frank Mir became the UFC Heavyweight Champion.

Frank Mir was the UFC Heavyweight Champion. Everyone was talking about a possible match up with MMA heavyweight superstar Andrei Arlovski. That's when something terrible happened.

On September 17, 2004, Mir was knocked off his motorcycle by a car, causing both a break in his femur and the tearing of all the ligaments in his knee. When Mir was unable to defend his title a year later, the UFC offered Arlovski his heavyweight championship.

Mir was not the same fighter when he came back from his injury against Brazilian Jiu Jitsu black belt Marcio Cruz on February 4, 2006, at UFC 57. In fact, the man known for his outstanding ground skills was easily defeated by TKO on the canvas in the first round. Following that, were two more subpar efforts where he went 1-1. This had many wondering if Mir could ever regain his old form.

But then came three straight victories against Antoni Hardonk, Brock Lesnar, and UFC Interim Heavyweight Champion Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira (giving him Nogueira's old title).

Frank Mir was clearly back.

Frank Mir possesses solid wrestling and striking skills. However, his Brazilian Jiu Jitsu prowess is what he's best known for. Along with this, Mir has one of the best guards of any heavyweight in MMA history. On top of his ability to put opponents in armbars, leglocks, and more, is the fact that he's an extremely big and strong heavyweight.

In other words, most MMA fighters know that once you get caught by Mir it's all over. He's just too strong to power out of his attempts and too good to use technique to escape.

Mir and his wife Jennifer have two children together, Isabella and Kage. In addition, Frank is in the process of formally adopting Jennifer's son Marcus.

Some of Frank Mir's Greatest UFC Wins

• Frank Mir defeats Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira by TKO at UFC 92: Mir and Nogueira had opposed each other as TUF 8 coaches prior to this interim title bout. Though Nogueira had been the favorite coming in, Mir dominated from beginning to end, especially in the way that he showed off his improved striking skills. It was the first time that Nogueira had been stopped in his career.
• Frank Mir defeats Brock Lesnar by kneebar at UFC 81: If Brock Lesnar were to defeat a former UFC heavyweight champion in only his second match, the uneducated might have assumed that MMA fighters weren't any better at fighting than professional wrestlers (forget that Lesnar was a former collegiate wrestling champion, as it wouldn't have been what the masses focused on). Regardless, Mir took advantage of a mistake by his bruising opponent on the canvas and turned it into a kneebar victory.
• Frank Mir defeats Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 by armbar: Let's put it this way: Tim Sylvia didn't tap when Mir caught him in a first round armbar. That led to his arm breaking on national television and the situation being replayed over and over and over again for people to see.
• Frank Mir defeats Pete Williams by shoulder lock at UFC 36: When Mir defeated Williams by a vicious shoulder lock, the world was introduced to one of the scariest heavyweight submission fighters ever.