- Former two-time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir revealed plans to hang up his gloves after one last fight in mixed martial arts.
- Mir shared that his promotion UFL (United Fight League) offered the fighters insurance and ownership of the company
Frank Mir joined the most elite MMA promotion in Nov. 2001 and got off to a successful start against Roberto Traven at UFC 34. He went on an impressive run and scored strong finishes over the likes of David Abbott, Tim Sylvia, Brock Lesnar, Antonio Nogueira, and Mirko ‘Cro Cop’ Filipovic over his decade-and-a-half-long career. He holds the record for the most finishes and submission wins in the UFC.
Frank Mir set to retire after final MMA fight
In a recent Morning Kombat interview, Frank Mir announced his plan to retire and switch to coaching full-time.
“It’s one of those things basically I’ve almost transitioned into full coaching mode now,” said Mir. “It’s funny when you’re younger you see guys retire and you’re like why? It’s not even so much that you’re not physically capable anymore, just getting up in the morning hurts worse and worse. Then you add the miles to put on my body so it just makes it difficult. The sacrifice to reward. I find it really rewarding right now to be coaching other people, helping out with my daughter, my sons.”
Mir will fight on the same card as his daughter Bella
Mir expressed his excitement at competing in MMA one last time on the same card as his daughter Bella and shared the details of the planned event.
“But my mind still wants to go out there do one last competition for MMA and this probably will be the last time I’ll ever fight as a martial artist. I want to finish with an MMA fight and then fight on the same card with Bella.”
“As of right now, [my daughter and I] are fighting together on our August card for the UFL,” said Mir. “We’re going to do a father-daughter… she’s going to corner me when I fight and I’ll corner her when she fights. I prefer if she fought first but she might be the bigger star. On August 12 we’re going to fight in UFL so far it looks like it’ll be in Phoenix.”
Mir’s UFL offers fighters insurance & ownership
Mir laid out the benefits his promotion United Fight League offers fighters that most other organizations do not generally tend to.
“Everybody knows I’m a big part of the UFL. We’ve been doing some big things there, making sure fighters have insurance, a part of stake in the company, just really taking care of fighters and trying to improve the things that we thought could be improved in the sport.”
“I think all you do is have to give people an alternative. If you look at any industry in the world, if anybody complains about something, the minute you give somebody a better alternative, they can go another route. That’s why monopolies are illegal because they stunt the growth of a section if you have somebody out there avoiding competition so by going out there and giving a legit competitive alternative I think really is the step to fixing it.”
“I see what Harrison Rogers is doing with the UFL could be very high. Somebody who’s already wealthy, who isn’t really trying to do this to make a living, basically he doesn’t want to lose the fortune he created but at the same time this isn’t for him to get rich, it’s to give back to the sport he’s a fan of and help. Not go back financially but open up the doors and show that if you’re sharing more with the fighters. Already, his overhead’s more just by doing the insurance, having all of the fighters insured the minute they come into the fight.”
Frank Mir was last seen inside the cage against Roy Nelson under the Bellator banner in Oct. 2019. Following the win over Nelson, he explored boxing and made his latest appearance in a Triad Combat 1 custom rules bout in Nov. 2021.
Details of his upcoming fight including the opponent and venue are in the works and expected to be announced in the near future.
