Frank Mir is currently in negotiations with Bellator and Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB).
Mir was recently granted his release from the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC). One stipulation in the agreement is that Mir can’t compete until April 2018. This was done to ensure the former UFC heavyweight champion completes his suspension handed out by the U.S. Anti-Doping Agency (USADA).
During a recent appearance on MMAFighting.com‘s “The MMA Hour,” Mir talked about the likelihood of being able to compete overseas to get away from the stipulation:
“I probably could. But I don’t know what that would do as far as me coming back to fight in the states. It’s kind of a gray area. I don’t know what the UFC would do about me breaking the agreement.”
While Mir admits he’d love a fight with Fedor Emelianenko, he isn’t too sure if he’ll get it under the Bellator banner.
“Fedor is kind of hard to nail down to one company. So I don’t want to get in a situation where I’ve been the last 16 years where I’m like, ‘Hey, I’d like to make this fight work, but I fight for the UFC and he won’t fight for the UFC,’ so that sucks. It was never gonna happen. So I kind of want to avoid that pitfall in the future. Not only am I selling myself as a fighter, but I’m also selling potential opponents in the future. Like, ‘Hey if you sign me, this is a potential fight you could make.’”
