MMA
Brett Okamoto, ESPN Staff Writer 7y

Sources: Frank Mir signs multifight deal with Bellator MMA

MMA

Longtime UFC heavyweight Frank Mir has signed a multifight deal with Bellator MMA.

Sources confirmed the deal with ESPN on Tuesday, following an initial report by MMAFighting.com. Mir, 38, secured his release from the UFC last month.

A Las Vegas native, Mir (18-11) has fought exclusively in the UFC since 2001. All but two of his pro fights have come within that organization.

Mir asked the UFC to terminate his contract shortly after the United States Anti-Doping Agency (USADA) suspended him for two years for a failed drug test in 2016. Mir has maintained he does not know how the banned substance, oral turinabol, entered his system.

Under the UFC's anti-doping program, he would not have been eligible to fight until April 2018. According to a source, Bellator does not intend to book him before that suspension ends.

Mir won the UFC's heavyweight championship as a 25-year-old in 2004. His rivalry with Brock Lesnar headlined the landmark UFC 100 card in 2009.

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