Frank Mir

I was born into martial arts.

TRAINING: Technique in the morning and hard sparring, grappling at night.

When and why did you start training for fighting? I was born into martial arts. My father had his own schools. He was training before I was born. Whenever he went to the studio I was there in a rocker. When I got older, I was the little kid who ran around the school annoying everybody. I didn’t really start training in martial arts until I was about 12 or 13 when I could start to comprehend what was going on.  Before that I was just punching in the air. At about 14 we started full contact sparring. As the son of the owner of the school, you feel a responsibility not to get beat up by everyone even though I was fighting adults most of the time. My father combined a lot of boxing principles with the kenpo. It wasn’t like most commercial schools. There was a lot of concentration on full contact sparring and conditioning. If you made it through a year, you were tough. I still have a crooked jaw from training at that school!

What ranks and titles have you held? Former UFC Heavyweight Champion, former interim UFC Heavyweight Champion, black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu under Ricardo Pires. Coach on season eight of The Ultimate Fighter.

Do you have any heroes? Bruce Lee.

What is your favorite technique? Submissions.

What does it mean for you to fight in the UFC? I am very goal oriented. I want to be the UFC World Heavyweight champion. To me that title means you are the most complete, most well rounded martial artist in the world.

Did you go to college and if so what degree did you earn? No. I concentrated on my martial arts training instead.

What was your job before you started fighting? I worked at the front desk for Station Casinos in Las Vegas.

•    Passionate advocate of the Second Amendment of the U.S. Constitution (happens to be the son of a policeman; his father was also a martial artist and Kenpo Karate master) 

•    Inspired to begin training BJJ after seeing Royce Gracie fight in the UFC

•    Architected one of the greatest comeback stories in UFC history, recovering from a serious motorcycle accident in 2004 that tore all the ligaments in one of his knees and shattered his femur – the strongest bone in the human body. The accident happened only a few months after Mir defeated Tim Sylvia for the UFC title. After much emotional anguish and self-pity in coping with injuries he feared might be career-ending, Mir courageously returned to the Octagon after a two and ½ year hiatus and has fashioned a 6-4 record since, including winning a UFC Interim Title

•    Fighting professionally since 2001

•    WEC commentator and occasional guest commentator on ESPN’s MMA Live

•    State champion wrestler in High School (NV), despite going 0-9 to start wrestling career