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Tuesday, Jul 05, 2016

Frank Mir Requests Release From UFC to Pursue Other Opportunities

Frank Mir (photo via UFC)

By FCF Staff

After a 15 year run with the Ultimate Fighting Championship, former heavyweight champ Frank Mir has requested to be released by the ZUFFA owned promotion.

After failing his post-fight drug test, following a loss to Mark Hunt in April, Mir will not be eligible to fight again until 2018. The 37 year-old fighter has denied knowingly taking performance enhancing drugs, but due to the potential costs involved, Mir is not planning to launch an appeal. As a result, recently the vaunted submission artist reported on “The MMA Hour” that he’s requested to be released by the UFC (quote via MMA Fighting.com):

“As of now I’m under suspension, as of April 2018 I’ll be eligible to fight again the UFC, and even more, as troubling as that is, they have it to where I can’t do any broadcasting,” Mir said. “Not that I was ever going to get it in there, just because I’ve been asking for several years since the WEC since put this in the rotation, right now I’d like to be released by the UFC so I can continue my career in other avenues.”

While discussing his decision to not launch an appeal, Mir stated:

“I didn’t see any advantage or course of action that would have been conclusive or really had any percentages on my side where I could win,” Mir said. It’s starting to look very expensive to fight, and if at the end of it I’m still suspended and I’m not allowed to fight or broadcast, I have to start to think about my savings as I’m trying to raise children…”

Mir has gone 2-3 in his last 5 outings and is currently ranked #11.

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posted by FCF Staff @ 9:15 pm
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