Frank Mir is plotting his next move, both as a mixed martial artist and as a commentator.
While the heavyweight veteran still has one fight left on his current Bellator contract, Mir has essentially been free reign to test the free agent market despite his intentions to fulfill the last bout on his existing deal. Mir recently announced the news on the ”Phone Booth Fighting Podcast.”
“Basically, I had a good conversation with [Bellator president] Scott Coker. “[I’m] still going to have a fight with them, just because there’s a fight left on my fight contract,” Mir said. “Scott was very easy to talk to about it – their company’s shut down, he hasn’t even left his house in three weeks – so, once they start up, there’s going to be a backlog of fights because they have so many fighters on their roster. “So now I’m basically, not basically, I am a free agent. Even though I would still do fights for Bellator, I’m not beholden to any contract to anybody now. So I can try out the free market and see whoever opens up to fighting first.”
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Mir halted a four-bout skid in his most recent outing, as he took a unanimous verdict over Roy Nelson at Bellator 231 this past October. Mir was finished by Javy Ayala and Fedor Emelianenko in his first two appearances with the California-based promotion.
The 40-year-old Las Vegas resident has his eyes on a couple destinations, and he is also looking forward to being able to call fights for different organizations as an analyst.
“It has always been a dream of mine to fight in Japan,” he said. “I remember watching the old PRIDEs back in the day, and RIZIN looks like they have a card coming up in August. So now I’m opened up to where now I can actually start talking to other companies and seeing where to go, which is great for commentary stuff, as I know before being exclusive fight-wise with Bellator I think hurt me as far as maybe commentating for the UFC. So maybe it’ll open up that avenue to where I could start commentary for UFC fights again and other organizations.”
In addition to Rizin, Mir also mentioned Polish promotion KSW as an option – along with a potential booking against former “World’s Strongest Man” Mariusz Pudzianowski.
“KSW looks like a phenomenal show,” Mir said. “Man, their production value is crazy. They have some interesting fights over there in the heavyweight division.”
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