Frank Mir has nearly a decade of service with the UFC. | Photo: Sherdog.com
Now 31, Mir has matured almost entirely under the bright lights of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, from his swift armbar finish over Roberto Traven in 2001 to his collar-tie knee knockout over Mirko “Cro Cop” Filipovic in September. On Saturday, Mir will enter select company, as he marks a decade of consecutive fights in the Octagon at UFC 130 in Las Vegas.
“I wish I knew everything I know now 10 years ago,” Mir told Sherdog.com when asked if he had any career regrets. “I’ve made so many mistakes that were just stupid mistakes. The weight gain, going up and going down, I don’t consider that a stupid mistake because now I own the answer. I went and found out for myself; there are no questions in my mind. I gave it an honest effort and pushed through it, whereas other mistakes, as far as training and stuff, was done out of just ignorance or arrogance on my part and youth. That drives me nuts. I’m, like, ‘Wow, I didn’t even learn nothing intelligent out of that; that was just moronic.’ And so those things bug me.”
In this exclusive interview with Sherdog.com, Mir weighs his past, his present and his immediate future -- a fight against longtime friend Roy Nelson in the UFC 130 co-main event.
Mir: We’ve always known of each other, acquaintances I guess, since
2000. He trained literally about 500 yards away from my gym. Our
two gyms were almost in the same shopping center. At competitions
we’d say hi to each other and always been on a friendly basis. We
have a lot of mutual friends. Growing up in Vegas, we both traveled
in the same circles, so that was a little bit of an issue. One of
the people in my wedding is one of his cornermen. It was just,
like, ‘Wow, this is kind of close; it’s kind of a backyard
fight.’
Mir: Just realizing that this is a competition and athletes compete
against each other all the time. It is a little bit different in
MMA. In a football game, tackling somebody is not quite as personal
as hitting them with a punch, but, at the same time, we do it in
practice all the time. I train with my father, so we try to hit
each other on a regular basis. So I just kind of broke it down in
those terms and realize that, hopefully, all of our mutual friends
will just realize that the situation is what it is, and there
should be no hard feelings. I think Roy and I kind of understood
how it would be. I was more worried about the people around us.
Mir: No, actually, and I think sometimes that’s a mistake that a
lot of people make. And Roy also wouldn’t do that anymore, either.
He’s a pretty intelligent person when it comes to realizing that,
just because in a jiu-jitsu match I scored three points, just
because I passed your guard, well, what ended up happening is
actually not a bad position. A lot of jiu-jitsu guys try to pass
because we’re taught it’s three points for doing so, but at the
same time, a wrestler would call this a “turk.” I’m in top position
and I have your leg trapped between my legs and you’re going to
have a harder time rolling to your hands and knees to build any
kind of a base because first you’ve got to unstick your leg. A lot
of guys, myself included, used to make those mistakes, mistakes
where I didn’t really visualize it from that point of view. You saw
in the Brock [Lesnar] fight [at UFC 100] I was content to hold him
in my half guard, which is kind of a silly mistake. It’s like,
well, you realize you are on bottom and a guy’s punching you in the
face, right? Just because he didn’t pass your half guard doesn’t
mean anything. I’ve had to reestablish a lot of what counts and
what doesn’t. A lot of bad habits can be created from jiu-jitsu
competitions. I don’t feel that the guard is dead. I don’t feel
that fighting off the bottom is a losing position, but there’s a
reason why the old grappling sports have always rewarded a guy for
throwing somebody and ending up on top and controlling them.
Mir: There is a lot to it. On top, you have gravity on your side.
There is an advantage to it. Some guys I think have gone and jumped
the ship completely, and [said], ‘OK, basically don’t ever try to
work your guard anymore. It’s losing; it’s futile. Dump it, and
completely just roll to your hands and knees and scramble.’ Well, I
don’t think that’s the answer, either. I just think it’s safe to
identify that, yes, OK, being in my guard is not ideal, but there
are weapons I have for here, and there is a threat I do pose. But
at the same time, I don’t want to be easily put there and be held
down there without any kind of attack back. In fact, one thing I
wish they would change is the kicking to the head of a downed
opponent. I completely understand it as far as when I’m on my back.
If you threw a strike with your legs or your knees to my head, it
could cause some damage to maybe my neck because now my body,
through friction, is held to the ground and I’m not going to be
able to move around as easy; whereas if I’m on my feet and you kick
me in the head -- not that it’s the ideal situation, but I’m not
held up against something -- my body is going to flow with the
move. Obviously, we’ve seen people get knocked out, but people get
up and there’s no injury to the neck. But with that same thought
process put in, the guy who’s on top of me, if you stand up in my
guard, I can kick you in the head. But if you put a knee down, now
I can’t kick you in the head. I don’t understand that. I think that
if you’re in my guard and you pull out and you try to rain down
punches, I should be able to rain kicks straight up at you. I think
we’re limiting the bottom guy. If you watch a lot of old MMA or
jiu-jitsu stuff, that’s a very viable, dangerous weapon. I mean,
even my wife, if we’re horse playing around and she’s on her back
and she throws a kick up, it’s not a pleasant experience.
Mir: I think I’m one of the more technical strikers right now. Even
the fight with Mirko and fighting with Cheick
Kongo, I think I’ve fought some of the guys who are known as
pure strikers and was able to land devastating shots. The only
thing with Dos Santos’ boxing -- I really think it’s almost
one-dimensional now. There were so many times in the fight with Roy
[that] he did so many things I personally would not have done or I
don’t think a lot of other mixed martial artists would have done.
Here, he rocks [Nelson] with an uppercut and Roy backs up and falls
to a knee. He’s up against the cage on all fours, and then Dos
Santos -- he put his hand on the back of Roy’s head and almost was,
like, “Well, OK, get up so I can punch you some more.” I think
myself or Carwin or anybody else would have went in, like, ‘OK, now
I have his back. There’s submission attempts. I can pin him down.
There’s ground-and-pound; I can rain down strikes.” But I’m not
going to, once I have someone’s back or I have you in superior
position, just allow you to stand up so I can try to get more
boxing in.