FRANK MIR 

On the Highway to Heavyweight Title

© Marc Wickert
 www.knucklepit.com

All photos copyright 2004 Zuffa LLC
Photography by Joshua Hedges

On June 19, 2004, Mixed Martial Artists Frank Mir and Tim Sylvia will go into battle for UFC’s World Heavyweight title.

Born May 24, 1979, in Las Vegas, Nevada, the 6’2" Mir’s introduction to martial arts was courtesy of his family’s involvement in karate: Frank’s parents operate the Las Vegas Kenpo Karate School. "My mother and father were both into Kenpo, and that sparked my interest in the arts, but after that it became my own personal interest," says Frank.

Mir took up wrestling at high school, which eventually led to his winning the Nevada 1998 state heavyweight wrestling title. But his curiosity in Brazilian Jiu Jitsu was ignited at age 14, when he witnessed the ‘scrawny’ Royce Gracie defeat much larger opponents in UFC 1: The Beginning, on November 12, 1993.

Eight years later, Frank made his own debut in the Octagon at UFC 34: High Voltage on November 2, 2001, in a trial-by-fire initiation against the then unbeaten BJJ exponent, Roberto Traven. However, the undaunted Mir submitted Traven in just over a minute of the first round. "It was a good fight. Especially beating him at his own game: submitting a Jiu Jitsu guy by armbar."

Frank says although it was his first Octagon appearance, and Robert Traven had been previously undefeated, he treated the fight as he would any bout. "The lead-up was the same as any other fight: You’re nervous about your performance in front of so many people. I really had no expectations, except to go out there and do well. That’s pretty much all I expect to do in my heart anytime, is to go out there and do the best I can."

Mir went on to add the names of Pete Williams (UFC 36: Worlds Collide), and Tank Abbott (UFC 41: Onslaught) to his impressive list of victories, with his only UFC defeat being against Ian Freeman (UFC 38: The Brawl At Royal Albert Hall).

UFC 43-Mir vs Sims

Frank’s next Octagon appearance was on June 6, 2003, at UFC 43: Meltdown against 6’10" Wes Sims, which notched up another win for Mir due to Sims being disqualified for stomping a downed opponent. Frank returned in UFC 46:Super Natural to settle the score with Wes, and KO’d Sims in round two: a battle that will always be remembered by MMA fans.

"We were both tired in the end, but I don’t think Wes Sims really launched much of an offence. It was more a matter of when was I going to catch him. I don’t think I was ever under threat from him. Never once was he getting to my back. I think in the second round I fell to my back after a kick, but immediately it just came down to the difference in our skill levels, and I was on top of him. Standard-wise, the minute we did actually begin to exchange, he got the worst of that deal."

Frank’s training is broken up into three categories: striking, grappling and conditioning. The striking consists of pad work, Thai pads and sparring.

"I still do wrestling with my Jiu Jitsu. I basically just grapple, but I include strikes when I grapple, you know, being realistic with what I do in the UFC."

The conditioning aspect of the workouts includes weights and cardio. "I do a lot of weight training, just because…I feel in the heavyweight division, strength is very important. You can have really great cardio, but if a guy just forces you around, it’s not going to make much of a difference how great your cardio is. So I do a lot of explosive, powerful work. Plus now, a lot of anaerobic training as far as sprinting and interval training goes."

Mir’s weekly workouts consist of five-or six-day sessions, depending on how his body feels, and he generally incorporates all three facets (striking, grappling and conditioning) in each day’s training. Again, Frank listens to his body.

"Yeah, I usually combine all three, unless an injury prevents one or the other. You know, sometimes my hand might hurt from sparring, so then that day I’ll work more grappling. Or my biceps might feel strained from grappling. Okay, I’m going to do more striking that day. You kind of adjust your workouts to cater for how your body feels that day. Pretty much throughout one workout, when I’m in the actual dojo, I’ll train all three.

"I used to separate them, because I figured if you separated them you’d get a better workout than just doing one. But the thing is, it’s actually cheating a little bit, because just striking is actually fairly easy on your conditioning. You know, it’s explosive movements. No one is really leaning on you. No one’s holding you down. So it’s a different type of muscle movement. And grappling is the same thing. You can go into cruise control with either one. But going back and forth between the two: that’s awkward. It’s awkward to be wrestling, to get up and have to spar somebody, and go back and forth between the two. And that’s basically what the fights are."

Frank regards Mixed Martial Artists as the ‘decathletes’ of fighting, and he prepares for the Octagon by doing specific sessions called ‘shark drills’. These workouts comprise bouts with Mir having to face a number of fighters – one at a time – who will fight Frank in different styles, all in the one round.

"The shark drill enables you to do different facets of a fight all in a single round. Opponent number one could be a striker and I’m going to strike with him. Opponent number two, we’re going to work out of a clinch. Number three, I’ll be on top and I’ll be starting off in his guard. Number four will be in my guard. Maybe opponent number five will have me cross-eyed against the cage. And then you just rotate through, with each guy working 30, maybe 45 seconds, or even up to a minute.

"I find that usually with a minute, your intensity drops. No one really goes hard for a full, straight minute. I don’t think that any human being can actually sprint for 60 seconds. So I find that your training partners try to find spots to rest. But if you go 30 seconds… Most people you can push really hard for thirty seconds. And then in the middle of it, I have parts where I practise regaining myself. Obviously within a five-minute round, you can’t fight from zero to five minutes with 100% intensity. The body is going to have to find a way to coast or take a break for you to regain yourself."

Frank says he’ll select certain positions where he’s on top, or if he’s in a particular spot where he has to accomplish a goal to get into a certain position, he’ll use this gap to catch a breather, whilst still being a threat to his opponent.

UFC 43-Mir vs Sims

"At say two-and-a-half minutes in, I’m going to sweep and take the guy down, and land cross-eyed, and I’m going to land elbows for thirty seconds. That thirty seconds of throwing elbows is also going to help me, because he’s going to be under stress and I’m not. I’m going to take a few deep breaths and regain my composure to continue on."

For his showdown against Tim Sylvia at UFC 48: Pay Back, Mir expects Sylvia to want the battle to go toe-to-toe. But Frank has other ideas. "I think Tim would shock everyone and his mother if he actually shot out to take it to the ground. Obviously I’m a superior ground fighter, and with his knockout record, he’s going to prefer throwing punches.

"The guy’s a good boxer and he’s 6’8", so I think to sit there and box with him…Even if I felt my boxing skills were better than his…It’s still where he’s most comfortable. So that wouldn’t make sense for me. And vice versa: If I fought a really good ground fighter, even if I thought I was better than he, I would keep it standing. You want to keep everybody out of their element."

Frank believes that having the match potentially last 25 minutes (5 x 5 minute rounds), it’s a long time for Sylvia to be able to resist going to the ground. So Mir says if he keeps his hands up, elbows in, and doesn’t give Tim any easy knockout opportunities, he will be able to take Sylvia to the ground.

Frank anticipates the fight with Tim could go close to the distance and says, "Sylvia will have to be patient. If he comes forward and throws a barrage of punches, he’ll be leaving himself open for a takedown. A smart striker sits back behind his jab and looks to drop a right hand on his opponent. At the same time, if I shoot, he can drive knees to keep me off his legs. You know, he’s going to have to be calculating.

"So far that suits Tim Sylvia’s strategy perfectly. And that’s what I would do if I were Tim Sylvia. In turn, he would have to be in shape to go 25 minutes, and that might be a long time before he’s able to land a shot. Or it might come immediately, so he can’t take the chance that it’s not going to come fast."