Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is ready to close the book on his own combat sports career but is going all in on a new venture with some fellow MMA legends.
While Mir has continued to compete periodically over the years, much of his attention has been on his daughter Bella Mir who has started 3-o in her own young MMA career and is currently attending the University of Iowa. Aside from that, Mir is also working alongside some big names to establish a new and unique combat sports organization.
Harrison Rogers alongside MMA legends Tito Ortiz, Quinton ‘Rampage’ Jackson, and Frank Mir himself established the United Fight League, a team-based MMA competition featuring top stars as team captains from all over the world of combat sports. Speaking with Flex Lewis on his ‘Intellectual Combat‘ podcast, Frank Mir shared his desire to allow fighters the freedom to pursue other opportunities, even if they are under contract with the UFL.
“We’re still trying to work it out because honestly I’m being told that maybe it’s not the greatest idea, but I want to make it to where if you have a contract with us, you’re my fighter under contract, you call me up and say, ‘Hey man, I have something coming up. A boxing match. Logan Paul wants to fight me’ Alright, cool. Go. There is no exclusivity unless it’s 30 days before one of our events. That’s it. How if I sit there can I tell you not to go make money? You’re a fighter and that’s something that I think the UFC uses as a weapon.”
Frank Mir Believes the UFC Interferes With a Fighter’s Ability to Make Money
Mir went on to discuss the highly publicized contract dispute between the reigning UFC heavyweight champion and Francis Ngannou leading up to his UFC 270 bout with Ciryl Gane.
“If he was our fighter, he’s our champ even and it’s like, ‘Oh man, he just got offered $30 million to go fight Tyson Fury,’ that’s awesome. Can I get a front-row ticket? Can I get there? Can I watch? I just want to see it, be a part of it. I would never interfere. Now if I say, ‘Francis, you’re defending the title in three weeks. Can you move it to five weeks out and just make sure you’re gonna kill the guy you’re gonna fight? Then you can go do the boxing match.
“Why would I interfere with a fighter being able to make money? To me, it’s almost like servitude. ‘You’ll fight when I have a fight for you, but if you p*ss me off or make me angry in any way, I’m gonna put you on the backside. ‘Well, we might not have a fight for 18 months.’ ‘Alright, cool. Can I find anyone else?’ ‘No.’ So, you’re telling me you don’t have a fight for me, but I can’t go somewhere else to make money and feed my wife and children. That doesn’t seem right.”
The UFL returns on November 4th with Freedom Fight Night 3 featuring team captains Benson Henderson and Ryan Bader. You can watch the promotion’s unique team-based take on mixed martial arts on their official YouTube channel.
