Frank Mir out to cement his place amongst the greats at UFC 146

Frank Mir doesn’t get the respect and recognition he deserves. The talented heavyweight has amassed the most wins of any heavyweight in UFC history (14), and is one of only three men to hold the heavyweight title on multiple occasions.

While fighters like Randy Couture, Matt Hughes, and BJ Penn are unanimously regarded as some of the best to ever compete in the Octagon, Mir isn’t afforded the same status, though his accomplishments are on par – if not greater – than those of his fellow former multi-time UFC champions.

Sunday, Mir looks to etch his name in the UFC history books once again, stepping into the cage intent on ending champion Junior dos Santos’ eight-fight winning streak in the UFC, and becoming the first man to ever hold the heavyweight title three separate times.

While some athletes can recite their career numbers without pause, the articulate American heavyweight says he wasn’t fully aware of everything he’s accomplished until the preamble to Sunday’s showdown with dos Santos at UFC 146.

“I’ve basically learned more from doing interviews than I have from sitting back and looking at my own career,” Mir said with a laugh, speaking with The Roar earlier this month. “I hadn’t realised how many fights I had had or how long I have fought. I knew when I started fighting, but with some of the other stats that have been said now, to be honest with you, I had never sat back and looked at it.

“It’s one fight at a time, and maybe because I’ve always approached it that way, that’s why some of the accolades have always snuck up on me. I still feel like yesterday I was first getting into the UFC, the first couple fights. When I think about them, they’re easy to recall real quick – I remember training, who I trained with. In all reality, it just makes you feel like time flies.”

Mir has spent more than a decade competing in the UFC heavyweight division, amassing a 14-5 record along the way. Thus far, the story of his career is divided into two chapters, with the motorcycle accident that nearly ended his career in September 2004 serving as the break between his first and second run as one of the top heavyweights in the entire sport.

Saturday night is a chance to begin a third chapter with a third championship belt, with a win serving as a belated birthday present for the former champion, who turned 33 on Thursday.

“It would be a huge accomplishment, and definitely set the summer off right. I don’t have to get back into the gym for a couple months, so it would be kind of nice to have the belt strapped to my waist leading into a summer with my family and my children.

“I always want to go out there and be the best I can be,” added Mir, shifting from thoughts of summer fun to what a third title would mean for his legacy, and his place in the pantheon of all-time greats. “Going out there and winning the heavyweight title helps me feel comfortable with that, and is a step forward towards that goal. All athletes, when we set records or earmarks in our career, we want to set them far enough ahead that as the future comes along, our name is remembered. This would be one step closer towards doing so.”

Despite all that he’s accomplished thus far in his career, Mir’s place in the annuls of MMA history remains a debated topic. It’s a reality the articulate, intellectual heavyweight has made peace with.

“I’ve kind of come to terms with feeling like sometimes I don’t get the recognition that I think others would have in my same position. There are a lot of fans out there that I’m very humbled by how they speak of me, and there are other fans out there too that think very slightly about my abilities. I always wondered about that.

“My wife always makes a joke,” Mir continued, sharing the way his wife, Jennifer, sums up each of his fights. “(She says), `Every fight you’re the underdog, and the guy you fight is unbeatable. And then when you beat him, there is always an excuse as to why he never had a chance to begin with, and that guy sucks. It’s never that you were very good.’ I never understood that (disconnect).”

Heading into Sunday’s headline pairing, the Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt already has a good idea what people will say if he adds dos Santos to the list of opponents he’s submitted inside the Octagon.

“I go out there, me and dos Santos are fighting. We’re in the clinch, or maybe I pull guard. We go to the ground, he scrambles to get up, I catch a foot when he gets up, and I put him in a heel hook. He taps out instead of losing a knee, we get up, and everyone says, `We he beat him with jiu-jitsu; he didn’t beat him with boxing. Junior wasn’t any good at it to begin with.’”

Mir belts out a deep baritone laugh before explaining it’s a patterns he’s seen repeated all too often throughout his career: a dominant victory rationalised away, pre-fight predictions changed or altered once he’s added another name to his still-growing list of victims.

Exceptionally well-spoken, and unafraid to share his thoughts on most any subject, the proud father of three has come to understand that for some fans, the way they judge the skills and abilities of certain fighters is tied directly to their personally feelings for those athletes. What they’ve accomplished in the cage – or not accomplished for that matter – is often times secondary when it comes to building their assessments.

“I realise that there are a lot of fans out there who confuse their own personal (feelings) about a guy, and his ability to fight. They’re two different things. You can like or dislike somebody, and still think they’re a great fighter or not such a great fighter. But it seems like when someone likes somebody on a personal level, they have a higher regard for their fighting ability, even if that person’s record doesn’t merit that type of praise, and vice versa.

“If somebody, for whatever reason, doesn’t like (a fighter’s) personality, they seem to have a very low regard for his fighting ability, regardless of how accomplished they may be inside the Octagon. And so, that’s why I think of it as in one ear, out the other when I hear those criticisms.

“I’ve heard people say, `He’s not even very good at jiu-jitsu,’ and I’m like, `Wow! If I’m not any good – and I’m not saying I’m the best, but I’m decently proficient at it – who is good? What standards are we judging people by?’”

Even when it comes to his greatest strength, Mir still gets sold short.

While his name may get lost in the shuffle when the conversation turns to the best fighters to every make their way into the Octagon, it will be harder to leave him out of the discussion should he win the heavyweight title for a third time on Sunday.

Maybe then, after 11-plus years, more wins than anyone else in the history of the division, and a trio of title reigns, Frank Mir will finally start getting the respect he deserves.

Saturday, May 26 – Weigh-ins 9am on Fuel TV
Sunday, May 27 – Prelims: 9am on UFC Facebook, then 10am on Fuel TV. Main Card: 12pm on Main Event – all AEST

Follow E. Spencer Kyte on Twitter (@spencerkyte)