UFC 100: Frank Mir's amateur wrestling background

July 9, 11:45 AMCollege Wrestling ExaminerMark Palmer

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This weekend's UFC 100 isn't the first time Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir have faced each other
inside the Octagon. At UFC 81 (shown here), Mir handed Lesnar his only MMA defeat.

Brock Lesnar isn’t the only competitor at UFC 100 this weekend with an amateur wrestling background.

The challenger to the former University of Minnesota college champ’s UFC heavyweight title, Frank Mir, also wrestled in high school.

Long before becoming one of the superstars in the UFC, Las Vegas native Frank Mir won the heavyweight title at the 1998 Nevada high school state championships. That year – his senior year – Mir went 44-1.

However, according to a July 8 article in the Las Vegas Sun, Mir was once a struggling wrestler at Bonanza High. He only took up the sport his junior year, losing his first nine matches.

“He never got down on himself,” Russ Leet, Mir’s coach at Bonanza, told Ray Brewer of the Sun. “He was such a good competitor and so confident in himself. You could see him improving, and once he got nine or 10 matches in, he figured out how to win.”

In their prematch prognostications for the Lesnar-Mir heavyweight title bout at UFC 100, many in the MMA (mixed martial arts) community have said that if the fight turns into a wrestling match, Lesnar – the 2000 NCAA Division I heavyweight champ – will have the upper hand.

Coach Leet has a different perspective, as someone who saw Mir dominate in high school (losing only twice in two years after dropping those first nine matches)… and has watched his prized pupil’s success in MMA.

“He had a plan at a young age that he would be doing this,” Leet said in the Las Vegas Sun. “He is the best I have seen in all parts of fighting. He is so passionate about fighting and a great fit for the sport.”
 

Resources

Frank Mir's official website

July 8 Examiner story: Brock Lesnar's college days (includes a slide show)

Las Vegas Sun article on Frank Mir's high school wrestling career

UFC Monster's predictions for UFC 100 at InterMat