Frank Mir has described a nasty injury he suffered at Bellator 212.
Mir went one-on-one with Javy Ayala in the co-main event of Bellator’s first doubleheader card in Hawaii. While Mir had success in the first round with his grappling, the second stanza proved to be his downfall. Ayala knocked out Mir’s mouthpiece and the two engaged in the clinch position. Mir ended up suffering an alveolar ridge fracture thanks to Ayala’s punches. Mir tapped as a result of the injury.
Frank Mir Discusses Jaw Fracture
During a recent edition of his “Phone Booth Fighting” podcast, Mir explained what happened (via MMAJunkie.com):
“The second round, there was a combination that I threw, and then afterwards he threw a punch back, and it knocked out my mouthpiece. I clinched him up against the fence, trying to slow the pace of the fight down, and then when he reversed me, I kind of used it as an opportunity to look at the referee like, ‘Hey, can I get my mouthpiece back? You know, I’m fighting somebody that’s 265 pounds, and they punch hard, and I’d like to have it back.’ Then as I was trying to talk to him, Javy did a good job with his head positioning. It was good on my chin, then one of the punches came through, and I felt like my teeth got knocked in, so that’s when I reached up and tried to essentially pull my teeth back out.
“When I reached up and grabbed them, they straightened out – which I found out the reason why is because my upper jaw was actually broken, so when I went to pull my teeth, all I did was straighten the jaw back out.”
Mir went on to note that while he was questioning whether or not he wants to continue fighting, he’s also taking into account what would’ve happened had his mouthpiece been put back in sooner.
