Frank Mir is currently sitting on the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC) sidelines for up to two years after testing positive for oral turinabol metabolites in the days leading up to his fight with Mark Hunt at UFC Fight Night 85. Mir got that news nearly one year ago in April, and since then has been fighting to clear his name through United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA). When that started looking bad, he began to request his release from UFC so he could fight in other countries.
MMA Junkie Radio had Mir on to discuss the entire ordeal and he had some pretty interesting things to say about USADA and steroids, as well as his desire to fight outside UFC.
"I guess because of being a US citizen I feel very much innocent until proven guilty, and [USADA is] very much a guilty until proven innocent approach," Mir said. "Which again, I understand. I'm not happy being on that side of it. Their only function in the world is drug testing and that's why they have very much all the power on their side with none on the side of the athlete.
"They found a metabolite in my system,” he continued. “Their test showing that metabolite doesn't necessarily mean it came from a steroid. It's a relatively new test, it could have came from other areas. The fact that I didn't have this steroid in my body with their own testing procedures six weeks before the fight casts a lot of doubt."
We're not so sure about that. Today's PEDs are in-and-out of your system pretty quick to minimize the potential for being caught during testing. While still having metabolites in your system on fight day certainly implies someone screwed up in administering the right dosages of the right steroids, it doesn't cast as much doubt as Mir might think.
"I guess I wait it out unless the UFC lets me go before that," Mir continued, sounding resigned to the reality of a two year suspension. He also confirmed he was ready to leave UFC once the suspension and his contract is up.
"Yeah I'm interested [in fighting in other places],” he said. “Bellator and World Series of Fighting. Bellator especially, the fact that they have those open contracts where they allow their guys to fight so long as they're not a champ and compete in other areas, that's a great thing. The UFC really wants to lock people down and not let you fight which is ... if you need to make a name for yourself and you want to be out there, I guess that's a sacrifice you have to make. But it hurts you as a martial artist and that's what I want to do is be a good martial artist and compete in other things.
"I have a very strong interest in doing kickboxing matches because I want to test stand up just in the stand up realm,” he continued. “I have asked [about this] ... I haven't had a reply back. Business as usual. So when I get done with the suspension I'll fight out my contract and move onto other places afterward."
The guys at MMA Junkie Radio then asked Mir what he thought of PEDs in the sport as a whole, and Mir gave a pretty unique answer.
"I don't even think it matters," he said. "I've trained in gyms my whole life and meet fighters from all walks of life, and you meet that fighter that's juiced out of his mind and he wants to compete and get there and train. And I've never been that impressed with them. You don't really see it in any walks of life where the guy's all purple and juiced up and strong ... well, you look really good but they only last for about 15 to 20 seconds before they gas out. Blood pressure's through the roof.
"So I don't actually think there's a PED out there that actually helps you as a fighter, to be honest with you,” he continued. “Not one that I've ever been worried about. There's no technique in an injection. I can't sit there and put a syringe in and now I can dodge punches ... there's no Matrix level chemicals out there that just change people as fighters."
You know, that first metabolite comment didn't make me think Frank was more innocent, but this last one has me thinking twice. This guy has such a limited understanding of performance enhancing drugs and how they work that he very well could have just taken something tainted, because he certainly doesn't seem to have the knowledge to make an informed decision regarding taking steroids. This is a guy after all that suggested kangaroo meat caused his positive drug test.
Regardless, with the latest news on Mir's fight with USADA being his B sample coming back dirty as well, we doubt he'll get the benefit of the doubt. That means another year until he gets to start fighting again, and who knows how many fights with the UFC before he earns his freedom to go test himself in other arenas.