Defining Fights: Bellator 231 headliner Frank Mir
Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir has experienced remarkable highs and crushing lows as he’s endured a roller coaster of a career that has led him to Friday night’s main event at Bellator 231.
Once considered the most dangerous heavyweight on the planet, Mir captured the UFC heavyweight title but was cut down in his prime after a motorcycle accident left him with a twice-broken femur and a completely torn knee. His journey back to the octagon was a long one, but he made it, and went on to become one half of one of the heavyweight division’s biggest rivalries.
He held championship gold in the UFC, shared the cage with a who’s who of heavyweight legends and now hopes to add another chapter to his career with another title, this time with Bellator.
This weekend Mir returns to action against fellow heavyweight veteran Roy Nelson at Bellator 231 and, ahead of the fight, we take a look back at seven of the fights that have brought Mir to Friday night’s main event in Uncasville, Conn.
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Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 – Jun. 19, 2004
The fight that not only saw Mir capture the UFC heavyweight title, but also guaranteed he would be a staple of gut-wrenching submission montages on YouTube for years to follow.
Mir conceded a significant height and weight advantage to defending champion Sylvia, who, but those physical differences had little effect on Mir’s performance, as he locked up a straight armbar and applied the pressure to the “Maineiac” who refused to tap.
Eagle-eyed referee Herb Dean was on top of the action and saw exactly what we all saw watching on television, as Mir’s pressure forced a noticeable pop halfway down Sylvia’s arm. After uttering a rare, but understandable, audible expletive, Dean stepped in and stopped the fight after just 50 seconds, awarding the win, and the heavyweight title, to Mir.
Sylvia protested the stoppage, but X-rays later showed his arm had been broken in FOUR places by Mir’s armbar, with two breaks in his ulna and two in his radius.
The win earned 25-year-old Mir the UFC heavyweight title, his BJJ black belt, and a reputation for being a clinical, devastating submission threat.
