Former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir is now a fight promoter

Though Frank Mir’s UFC career is over, he’s managed to stay very busy in the mixed martial arts world in other roles.

He is, of course, one of the participants in Bellator’s exciting heavyweight Grand Prix, as he’s set for a first-round matchup with Fedor Emelianenko in late April. He’s also an MMA commentator, regularly donning the headset for Russian promotion Absolute Championship Berkut (ACB) on a regular basis. And now, Mir is also a fight promoter. His work as a promoter will also be for ACB.

This news was announced by the promotion in a Monday press release.

Mir joins the ACB fold at a time when the promotion is bravely pressing into new markets such as Canada, Brazil, Germany, and of course, the United States. It is with this global expansion that the former UFC heavyweight champ hopes to help the Russian promotion.

“I actually approached them,” said Mir in ACB’s release (via MMAFighting.com) “I know they are keen to break into the American market and I’m down for doing less travel so I asked if they were interested in coming to America, then I could be a contact in the US that could promote the events for them which they were very open to.”

Mir’s partners in this promotional effort will be UK promoter Carl Prince and ACB broadcaster Bryan Lacey. These efforts will be focused not only in the US, but also the UK and Australia. At the time of this writing, it hasn’t been announced when Mir will actually put on his fight promoter hat, but the wheels for his debut are apparently in motion, and will be announced shortly. 

How do you think the former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir will do as a fight promoter for ACB? Join the conversation in the comment section below.

This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/20/2018.