As we build up to UFC 100, I've been running through the submissions UFC interim heavyweight champ Frank Mir is known for. We've covered his kneebar against Brock Lesnar, the Mir Lock, and the Footlock he busted out against Tank Abbott.
That's pretty much his greatest hits, right? I mean, sure, it was impressive when he armbarred BJJ black belt Roberto Traven, but that fight was in the "Dark Ages" and no one really talks about it as much as it merits. Oh wait, there is one more submission win Frank Mir has notched in the UFC that does get a little bit of attention.
Yeah, that's right, people still talk about Frank snapping Tim Sylvia's arm on live PPV at UFC 48. How could I forget? I also realize that I've never done a Judo Chop about the humble arm bar. Possibly the most high percentage submission in the game (after the rear naked choke), the arm bar gets taken for granted by nerds like myself.
According to our own Leland Roling's analysis of the FightFinder database, 5305 out of 62,600 fights ended via armbar or 8.47% of all fights and 5588 out of 62,600 ended via Rear Naked Choke or 8.93% of all fights.
But when we saw it for the first time at UFC 2, when Royce Gracie tapped out Jason DeLucia with it and the announcer was saying "Yup, he popped the capsule. Royce definitely broke his arm." It was pretty mind blowing stuff. The common-place status of the arm bar in today's MMA is testament to the ubiquituousness of jiu jitsu in the sport.
Here's Frank talking about that fight to BodyBuilding magazine:
Tim's was an interesting break since I snapped his forearm in half. You have to give him credit though. Even with his arm snapped in two he was still trying to pick me up with the same arm. He wanted to continue to fight me one handed.
It was an odd experience. The crowd didn't totally get that I had busted his arm in half and so they were surprised by the stoppage.
The funny part about that arm bar is that Sylvia didn't realize his arm had been broken either. That says a lot about Sylvia's pain tolerance and the power of adrenaline. But there's another factor that often gets over-looked: Sylvia had done what you need to do to escape from most arm bars. He had pulled his arm back enough to get the elbow out from between Mir's legs. The elbow is the normal pivot point that is attacked by the arm bar, not the middle of the forearm in this instance.
Mir has commented in interviews that it was his protective cup operating as a fulcrum (along with his considerable power) that snapped Sylvia's forearm. Normally, the hip acts as the fulcrum against the pivot point of the elbow. The combination of Mir's power, Sylvia's extremely long arms and the hard shell protective cup over Mir's manly goods was a bad one for Big Tim.
