Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir experienced a career first last night (Fri., Dec. 14, 2018) at Bellator 212 from inside Neal S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii, when he tapped out due to strikes in the second round of his co-main event clash with Javy Ayala.
With his daughter in his corner, Mir battled hard throughout the heavyweight fight to gain top position and tire Ayala. That was until Ayala forced the fight to the feet in the second round and started to strike with Mir in the clinch. Hard elbows and short punches bloodied Mir’s face and eventually forced the heavyweight veteran to signal for a tap on the back of Ayala’s head.
The unexpected finish can be seen above.
NÃO DEU PARA O FRANK MIR!
— FOX Sports Brasil (@FoxSportsBrasil) December 15, 2018
No último round, Frank Mir pediu pra parar a luta depois da sequência de golpes que recebeu de Javy Ayala! #BellatorFOXSports pic.twitter.com/TdWpKMTCP2
While most of us watching, including the cageside commentators, thought Mir tapped due to strikes because he couldn’t see, the former UFC standout actually suffered a fractured alveolar ridge after his mouthpiece fell out for well over a minute. Per wikipedia, the alveolar ridge is one of the two jaw ridges, extensions of the mandible or maxilla, either on the roof of the mouth between the upper teeth and the hard palate or on the bottom of the mouth behind the lower teeth.
The injury was reported by Mir’s “Phonebooth Fight Podcast” co-host Richard Hunter following the fight:
I just talked to @thefrankmir & he told me he has an alveolar ridge fracture, which caused the tap. Frank was without his mouthpiece for about about a minute & 1/2 of the 2nd round & that’s where the injury occurred. #BellatorHawaii @BellatorMMA
— Richard Hunter (@RichardHunter) December 15, 2018
Mir, 39, thought he had injured his actual teeth and tried to pull them out to continue. Once he realized the severity of the injury and the pain associated with it he had nothing left to do but tap for the first time in his career.
Also told me he thought it was just his teeth so he was trying to pull them out so he could continue but then the pain went through the roof. This is a rough sport, folks.
— Richard Hunter (@RichardHunter) December 15, 2018
This is pretty wild considering Mir has fought the likes of Fedor Emelianenko, Mark Hunt, Alistair Overeem, Brock Lesnar, Daniel Cormier, Junior dos Santos, and so on, and this sort of thing has never happened. I guess that’s what you get when you fight a hard-punching heavyweight like Ayala with no mouth piece for nearly 90 seconds.
We’re hoping Mir doesn’t sustain any long lasting injuries and gets back into the Bellator cage as soon as possible, especially considering last night’s fight was extremely entertaining leading up to the stoppage.
For complete Bellator 212 results and coverage click here.
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