Fighting the ultimate fight

Victoria Sun

Thursday, Nov. 1, 2001 | 11:03 a.m.

The first time Las Vegan Frank Mir watched the Ultimate Fighting Championship, he didn't think of it as a way to get rich quick.

He thought it was the perfect way to showcase the skills of genuine mixed martial artists and weed out the pretenders.

Mir, the 1998 state wrestling champion from Bonanza High School, spent most of his childhood at one of the martial arts schools in the valley owned by his father and started training when he was about 12.

"I never really thought fighting would pay off," Mir said. "I always wanted to own my own school.

"But I didn't want to be like everybody else and just tell you what I knew. I wanted to have a tape and say, look, I've done this. I've beaten so and so just like martial artists did back in the day.

"They fought. I know it sounds brutal, but that's what they did. So when I started fighting, mixed martial arts was a way of proving myself, a tool to help me open up my own school and have legitimate credentials."

Mir, who is 2-0 in mixed martial arts fights, will make his UFC debut Friday night at the MGM Grand Garden Arena.

The 22-year-old heavyweight will be fighting Brazilian Roberto Traven on the "UFC 34: High Voltage card."

There will be three fights consisting of three three-minute rounds and five fights consisting of five five-minute rounds. The combatants compete in a padded octagon area that measures 30-by-30 feet inside.

Mir's fight will be first at approximately 5:45 p.m.

After he graduated from high school in 1998, Mir began boxing before dedicating himself to mixed martial arts competition, which he discovered he enjoyed a lot more.

Like his opponent, Mir specializes in Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu, which is a grappling art consisting of holds, locks and chokes. Mir is a purple belt while Traven is a black belt.

Mir was inspired to learn Brazilian Jiu-Jitzu after he started watching the UFC and noticed ground fighters were the most successful.

Although many of his friends and family are concerned for his safety, Mir said that the UFC is safer than boxing because there are so many ways to win, whereas in boxing, both men receive repetitive blows to the head.

When a UFC fighter is losing, he can concede defeat by tapping his opponent and doesn't have to wait for the referee to stop it.

"If there is a stubborn fighter who won't concede, there is the referee," Mir said. "You're looked upon a little bit stupidly if you get your arm broken or you're passed out.

"It's like, what's the point in that?"

Mir's wife of three months, Anna, will be one of his many family and friends who will be watching and hoping he doesn't get hurt.

Even though Mir is 6-foot-2 and 240 pounds, he is as much at risk as anybody else who steps into the cage.

"I get nervous just because of what it is," Anna said. "It's fighting, but I have total faith in him.

"I'm not worried he's going to get killed or anything. I just don't like him getting hurt at all."