Former UFC champ Frank Mir announces release after 16 years with promotion

Frank Mir’s historic UFC tenure came to an end on Saturday when the former two-time heavyweight champion announced his release from the organization.

Mir (18-11 MMA, 16-11 UFC), who debuted with the company at UFC 34 in November 2001 and has been part of the roster since, has been campaigning for his UFC release for quite a while after he was the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USDA) tagged him for a violation following a March 2016 fight with Mark Hunt.

The 27-fight octagon veteran was officially handed a two-year suspension retroactive to the date of the test, but has maintained his innocence. He listed numerous potential sources for the positive test, including eating kangaroo meat while in Australia for the fight with Hunt. However, he was still given a maximum punishment by USADA.

It took a while, but Mir finally got his wish to part ways with the company (via Twitter):

At 38, Mir has expressed interest in continuing his career. He’s under USADA suspension until April 2018, but with no contractual ties to the UFC for the first time in more than 15 years, he’s free to compete for organizations that may not adhere to USADA’s oversight.

Mir leaves the UFC with numerous heavyweight records to his credit, including most fights (27), wins (16), stoppages (13) and submissions (eight). Although active UFC fighter B.J. Penn made his promotional debut prior to Mir, the former champion’s uninterrupted UFC tenure of 5,727 days is a record that may never be broken.

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