Frank Mir has experienced a fair share of injuries during his fighting career.
But one in particular could have been his worst nightmare if it had come true.
Mir is one of the most accomplished submission specialists in MMA history, having defeated the likes of Brock Lesnar on the canvas during his legendary career.
The 6ft 3ins 264lb star even snapped the arm of Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira at UFC 92 in December 2008 to become a two-time heavyweight champion and the first man to ever submit the Brazilian.
Mir almost had his career ended four years prior in September 2004 having been involved in a serious motorcycle accident.
The 45-year-old was in his prime at the time, having just submitted Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 three months before to win his inaugural piece of gold in Dana White’s promotion.
The accident led to him breaking his femur in two places and he tore all major ligaments in his knee.
Mir bounced back after being told by doctors that he would not be able to fight again.
However, things may have proved to be a lot worse if one injury got as bad as Mir once thought it would be.
“I took a bad knee to the face and my s*** was just congested, congested,” Mir said explained The HJR Podcast.
“So my wife was asleep and it’s like two in the morning. I went (blows nose). I blew my nose, all of a sudden I couldn’t see.
“I thought I blew my eyeball out of my socket. I was like: ‘Oh f***! Oh!’
“It makes you nervous that your eyeball is f****** not in your eye anymore.
“So I do this to my wife, like, ‘Hey babe, babe.’ She goes, ‘What?’ I’m like, ‘Look at me.’
“I had woken her up at two in the morning, so she was like, ‘What?!’ I’m all, ‘Do I look okay?’
“She’s all, ‘Your eye’s sealed shut, what the f*** did you do?’ I’m like, ‘Alright cool, it’s still in my face.’”
Mir suffered back-to-back defeats in the UFC to Andrei Arlovski and Mark Hunt, before joining rival promotion Bellator MMA, which is now the PFL.
He lost to fellow veteran Fedor Emelianenko on his debut in April 2018 and suffered another defeat eight months later.
Mir then went out on a high, defeating Roy Nelson at Bellator 231 in October 2019 in what many thought would be his last MMA appearance ever.
However, after making a semi-return in a custom rules bout back in 2021, Mir is now gearing up for his return to pro MMA.
MMA’s newest promotion, the Global Fight League, announced in February that Mir, along other legends in the sport like Tony Ferguson, Paige VanZant and Urijah Faber, had signed with the promotion.
Faber will headline the first ever GFL event on May 24 against former UFC bantamweight champion Renan Barao.
Chad Mendes, Anthony Pettis, Benson Henderson, Holly Holm and Ray Borg have also been announced to fight on the card.
Mir was drafted to Team Los Angeles under the management of Wanderlei Silva and is scheduled to face ex-UFC heavyweight champion Fabricio Werdum on his debut.
His first appearance will be delayed in light of an emergency spinal fusion surgery that he has been forced to undergo.
However, the Las Vegas native still fully intends on making a return to the cage once and for all.
“Recently, I faced a significant hurdle: I underwent an emergency spinal fusion and laminectomy of my entire thoracic spine,” Mir wrote on his Instagram this month.
“Although it was a tough decision, I’m happy to report that the surgery was a complete success!
“Now, I’m diving into rehabilitation and focusing on my recovery. This is just another challenge that I intend to overcome, and I’m committed to coming back stronger, both mentally and physically, than ever.
“Thank you all for your support during this time. Your encouragement means the world to me, and I can’t wait to share my progress with you.”
Although Mir never specified what knee prompted his hilarious eye injury story, there are plenty to choose from his 18-year fighting career.
