UFC legend Frank Mir vows to 'fix' MMA after watching Tim Sylvia slap fighting

Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir was sad to see one of his old rivals slap fighting ten years after walking away from mixed martial arts.

Tim Sylvia, who is also an ex-UFC heavyweight titleholder, hasn't fought since 2013 when he suffered a third consecutive loss against Ruslan Magomedov.

Two years later, he attempted to make a comeback to MMA, but it was derailed by a pre-fight MRI scan that showed worrying signs of blunt force trauma.

Last weekend, Sylvia made his debut in the highly controversial sport of slap fighting and picked up a KO win to claim the Slap Fighting Championship heavyweight title.

The 47-year-old is expected to defend his belt later this year and fellow UFC icon Mark Coleman, who had a heart attack in 2020, has put himself forward as a potential opponent.

Mir is not a fan of the new sport backed by UFC president Dana White and does everything he can to avoid seeing the disturbing highlight videos.

“I am a big hater of slap fighting," he told talkSPORT.

"In fact, if I’m ever going through anything social media and I see anything come up, I try to swipe through it as fast as possible, so the algorithm doesn’t read that I want to see as any of that garbage.”

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Mir was sad to see Sylvia, whom he submitted in 2004, turning to slap fighting to pay the bills and says he hopes to help MMA stars live comfortably after retiring.

The BJJ specialist is working with United Fight League [UFL] and plans to ensure anyone who competes on their shows is paid the lion's share of whatever money is made.

Mir added: “I think that is one of the things I want to fix about our sport.

“You know, when an NFL player goes broke three years after his career no one sits there and goes. ‘Well, the NFL didn’t pay him enough.’ No, they have a player’s union, he got paid, he got compensated, he just went out like an idiot and was having $100,000 parties.

“When you see an MMA fighter who is struggling after his career, people don’t really say, ‘Oh, he didn’t manage his money well.’ It’s, ‘Well, they are not compensated for what they generate.’"

Mir headlined three UFC pay-per-view shows, including one with Brock Lesnar that generated 1.6 million buys, but he will retire without ever having a million-dollar payday.

The 43-year-old thinks it's time MMA promotions stop becoming rich by exploiting fighters.

Mir concluded: “If you look at some of the numbers we pull off on pay-per-views and how much the fighters get paid – that’s one of the things I want to fix about our industry.

“A much smaller portion goes to the promotion. We are not going to become millionaires off the back of the fighters. The show has to make money so we can continue to have a show but at the same time the fighters themselves are the most compensated.”

Mir will fight for one final time at UFL 3 on August 12. The card will also feature his 20-year-old daughter Bella Mir who is a 3-0 MMA prospect and one of America’s best college wrestlers.

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