Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is ready to hang up his gloves after more than 20 years in combat sports.
The submission specialist has had a storied career over the last two decades, but in recent years, Mir’s focus has shifted to guiding his daughter Bella Mir as she navigates her own career in combat sports. During that time, Mir has also worked to heal some lingering injuries and feels that he is now ready for one more fight before calling it quits.
During an appearance on ‘Fight Night Flashbacks‘ with former UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub, Mir revealed that he has one more fight left in him and he wants to retire on a card headlined by his daughter.
“I’m trying to heal up a lot of my injuries and stuff and take this seriously. Next year, I’m gonna go and fight again because I actually want to fight once on the same card with Bella as my last fight,” Mir said. “She can headline the card — I can open it … How many times is that going to happen in history?”
Asked about co-main eventing a card with Bella in the headlining bout, Mir gave an emphatic “No” as the heavyweight icon wants to be available to corner his daughter.
Report: Bella Mir, daughter of Frank Mir, set for pro MMA debut at iKON Fighting Federation 2 on October 22nd.
The 17-year-old is slated to make her first professional outing on October 22nd. in a bantamweight matchup. 👊 #MMA #iKON https://t.co/m936rfkEas pic.twitter.com/9EvKosMl8B
— Ross Markey (@Ross_Markey) September 30, 2020
Frank Mir Closing The Door on His MMA Career While Bella Mir is Just Opening Hers
Frank Mir will undoubtedly go down as one of the greatest heavyweights in UFC history. Debuting at UFC 34, Mir spent 15 years with the organization, capturing the UFC heavyweight championship, and is a one-time interim heavyweight titleholder. Mir holds notable victories over Brock Lesnar, Cheick Kongo, Roy Nelson, Tim Sylvia, and Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira. Mir finished his UFC run going dropping six of his last eight contests.
Following his departure from the UFC, Mir found a new home in Bellator where he was immediately matched up with heavyweight legend Fedor Emelianenko. Mir lost the bout 48-seconds into the opening round via knockout. After a second-straight loss to Javy Ayala under the Bellator banner, Mir moved on to boxing, competing on the Jake Paul vs. Ben Askren undercard and also appearing at Triller’s one and only Triad Combat event in November 2021. He lost both bouts.
In the meantime, Bella Mir has taken the MMA world by storm, earning victories in her first three contests. In her most recent appearance, ‘Lady’ defeated Jessica Link under the Xtreme Fight Night banner, scoring a first-round submission via arm bar.
"This kid is gonna do 𝐁𝐈𝐆 𝐓𝐇𝐈𝐍𝐆𝐒!!" – @DanaWhite sees a bright future ahead for the 𝐔𝐍𝐃𝐄𝐅𝐄𝐀𝐓𝐄𝐃 Bella Mir, daughter of former HW champ Frank Mir 💡
[ Watch all of Bella's wins now on @UFCFightPass ] pic.twitter.com/7fQSvh1jmR
— UFC (@ufc) June 27, 2022
‘Lady’ revealed in an interview with Flo Wrestling that she had committed to attending the University of Iowa in the fall where she will be part of the women’s wrestling team. During the interview, Bella Mir revealed that it was both Dana White and UFC Hall of Famer Daniel Cormier that encouraged her to pursue collegiate wrestling at Iowa.
“I actually had a meeting with Dana and Daniel Cormier and we talked about fighting,” Bella said. “My dad fought in the UFC so he knows Dana really well. We were having dinner and a little meeting and (Dana) actually told me to go to college first and not fight right out of high school. He said I should develop and get better at wrestling. I obviously agreed because I feel like he knows what he’s talking about. They were the ones that helped me to decide.
“Daniel was the one to help me decide to go to Iowa because I didn’t know what college to go to. I wasn’t getting recruited since I told everyone that I was going to go straight into fighting. Daniel told me that I needed to go to Iowa since he knows the coach and she’s really cool. He actually put in a good word for me. One of my coaches down here, Chase Pami, knows Clarissa pretty well — so I had people putting in a good word for me.”
https://www.youtube.com/shorts/Qans2QdCJb8
