Frank Mir Says Referee Didn’t Protect Him At Bellator 212, Considering Retirement
Mir, who suffered a fractured jaw in the bout, feels that the referee didn’t protect him during the heavyweight division fight.
“The second round, there was a combination that I threw, and then afterwards he threw a punch back, and it knocked out my mouthpiece,” Mir said on Phone Booth Fighting. “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. I thought that was weird that they weren’t coming out for as loose as they felt. I felt them in the roof of my mouth just a second prior. Then, when I looked up at the referee, I’m like, ‘Well maybe if I get my mouthpiece back, I can frame it somehow.’ Then when I took another shot there, the pain was just pretty intense, and I’m like, ‘All right, there’s something not right up here.’ I think it’s visceral. It’s animalistic when you know, ‘OK, there’s something majorly wrong with my body right now.’ … It didn’t feel like something I’m just going to walk off, so that’s when I just waved off the fight to figure out what’s going on with my mouth.”
Mike Beltran was the referee for the bout, having officiated for major promotions like the UFC, World Series Of Fight/Professional Fighters League and more.
The loss has Mir considering retirement, but he would like another shot at Ayala before making a final decision.
“I would actually like to have a rematch with Javy, reason being is because really he was a testing moment for me to feel if I should continue fighting or not,” Mir said. “He’s somebody that doesn’t have – obviously, he hits hard, but so does every other heavyweight. But he was picked as an opponent that was a very winnable fight – should be if I’m worthy of still fighting, and so then it’s really a crossroads for me. Immediately after, I’m like, ‘Well, I lost. I guess it’s time to hang it up.’ But then going back and looking at it, knowing what I was going through and knowing that, ‘OK, well, I won the first round. Is it really time for me to hang it up?’ I think the only way to really answer that is to rematch with Javy Ayala again. If I come through short again and it doesn’t work out, then it is time to hang it up. If I can’t beat the Javy Ayalas, then I probably shouldn’t be fighting anymore.”
Mir hasn’t picked up a win in over three years and is currently in the midst of a four fight losing streak.
