It is no secret that UFC heavyweight champion Brock Lesnar and contender Frank Mir have a bitter relationship, to say the least. However, Mir will have to get through heavyweight powerhouse Shane Carwin (11-0) at UFC 111 before he can enact his dream of regaining the undisputed heavyweight title from Lesnar.

Frank Mir

On Saturday, Mir will have the chance to guarantee himself the next shot at Lesnar with a win over Carwin in a bout, scheduled for five rounds, for the interim heavyweight championship. The fight is scheduled as the co-main event of the evening at the Prudential Center in Newark, N.J.

Fighting out of Las Vegas, Nev., Mir is a former UFC heavyweight and interim heavyweight champion. Mir, a black belt in kenpo karate and Brazilian jiu-jitsu, currently trains with Team Sityodtong in Boston, Massa., under owner and head trainer Mark DellaGrotte. He earned his black belt in BJJ under Ricardo Pires after only five years of training.

Currently holding a professional MMA record of 13-4, Mir is an accomplished grappler and renowned submission artist whose standup has drastically improved with each appearance in the octagon. He is the 2007 NAGA absolute division champion. Of his 13 victories, eight have come by way of submission.

After winning the UFC championship in a match with Tim Sylvia at UFC 48 in 2004, at the age of 25, Mir faced a potentially career ending injury. He was left with a broken femur and torn ligaments in his knee after a motorcycle accident, and was told that he may never walk again, let alone fight. Mir was stripped of his title after 14 months.

In 2006, nearly 2 years later, Mir returned to the octagon. In 2008, Mir shocked the world by submitting rising star Brock Lesnar in the first round at UFC 81, in a match in which he was clearly outsized and not favored to win.

Mir vs. Lesnar I - UFC 81

After running through Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira for the interim heavyweight championship at UFC 92, Mir faced Lesnar in a rematch for the undisputed heavyweight championship in the main event of UFC 100.

Lesnar, a NCAA national champion wrestler, took Mir down with ease in the first round and smothered him, landing effective ground-and-pound. In the second round Mir landed a left elbow followed by a flying knee that rocked Lesnar, but he gave up the takedown in doing so. Lesnar continued to land brutal ground-and-pound from the top position until the match was stopped at 1:48 into the second round via TKO.

In the co-main event of UFC 107, Mir faced off with muay thai and kickboxing ace Cheick Kongo. Mir beat Kongo at his own game, dropping him with a lead left hook less than a minute into the fight. Mir then locked in a guillotine and choked Kongo unconscious, ending the fight at just 1:12 into the first round.

Carwin, a NCAA division II national champion wrestler and boxer with incredible knockout power, presents a huge challenge to Mir. In Carwin’s 11-fight MMA career, he has earned six victories via knockout or TKO and 11 first round stoppages.

With all of his losses coming by way of TKO, Mir is not known for his ability to take a punch, especially while fighting off of his back. Carwin’s wrestling background and powerful punches could prove dangerous to Mir. However, Mir’s submission game will present a threat to Carwin should the fight go to the ground, and Mir is perhaps the more technically sound striker. Mir recently stated that he believes that Carwin is a more dangerous version of Lesnar.

Carwin showed a good chin in his last fight against Gabriel Gonzaga and was able to get off of his back in a matter of seconds. With his 11 career fights lasting just over 12 minutes, it will be difficult for Mir to study Carwin for weaknesses, so he will likely stick to his normal training regimen.

Live pay-per-view coverage of UFC 111 will begin at 10 p.m. EST

Frank Mir on ESPN – 3/25

Countdown to UFC 111

Mark “The Hammer” Coleman’s Team Hammer House has fallen on hard times as of late.  However, Coleman hopes to turn the trend around as he meets another MMA great and fellow UFC Hall of Famer Randy “The Natural” Couture this weekend at UFC 109 Relentless.

Team Hammer House is a MMA team operating out of Columbus, Ohio, focused on amateur wrestling, and made up of mostly former NCAA wrestlers.  The team has cross training deals with notable fighters and camps such as Matt Serra, Pat Miletich, and Xtreme Couture MMA.

The main strengths of Team Hammer House are its wrestling and ground-and-pound.  Coleman is credited with being one of the first American MMA fighters to successfully use the strategy of ground-and-pound, which has earned him the nickname of the “Godfather of Ground-and-Pound.”

Coleman, the founder of Team Hammer House, holds numerous accomplishments in the world of professional MMA.  He is a UFC Hall of Famer, the first ever UFC heavyweight champion, and the winner of the UFC 10 tournament, UFC 11 tournament, and 2000 Pride openweight GP tournament.  Coleman, like many of his teammates at Hammer House, is a former NCAA collegiate wrestler.

Team Hammer House holds a roster with several prominent fighters, including four UFC veterans: two of whom are former UFC champions. The team’s notable fighters include: Mark Coleman, Kevin Randleman, Wes Sims and Branden Lee Hinkle.  Phil Baroni, a UFC, Pride and Strikeforce veteran, is a former member of Team Hammer House.

Former UFC heavyweight champion Kevin Randleman is a senior member of  Team Hammer House. Randleman, a former collegiate wrestler and two time Division I NCAA champion, was defeated by Mike Whitehead via unanimous decision in June of 2009 during his Strikeforce debut at Strikeforce: Lawler vs. Shields.  The fight marked his first fight in over a year due to a shoulder injury, as well as his first fight in America in nearly seven years.  In his most recent fight Randleman was defeated by Stanislav Nedkov via split decision at World Victory Road Presents: Sengoku 11.

Wes Sims, three-fight UFC veteran  and The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights cast member, recently fought Bobby Lashley on the main card of Strikeforce: Miami. Sims was stopped in the first round via technical knock out (2:06).

Branden Lee Hinkle, three-fight UFC veteran and NCAA Division II national wrestling champion, was stopped by Chris Tuchscherer in round 4 (4:43) of his most recent fight at SNMMA: Beatdown at Four Bears. Hinkle has lost four of his last five fights after going undefeated in his previous nine matches.

Coleman scored a unanimous decision victory over Stephan Bonner in his last fight at UFC 100 after falling to Mauricio “Shogun” Rua via technical knock out in the third round (4:36) at UFC93.  He is currently training with Team Hammer House in preparation for his match with Randy Couture this Saturday Feb. 6 at the Mandalay Bay Events Center in Las Vegas, NV.

Live pay-per-view coverage of UFC 109 will begin at 10 p.m. EST.

Former TUF bad boy Jesse Taylor, known by most American MMA fans the man who was ejected from the TUF 7 title fight after a drunken incident in Las Vegas, was victorious in his return to the big stage at DREAM 1o, albeit through a freak injury stoppage.

Taylor gets a "W" at DREAM 10

Paired up against renown judoka and armbar enthusiast Dong Sik Yoon, Taylor exploded out of his corner and immediately took down Yoon, running all over the more experienced Korean on the ground before trying for a rear-naked choke. Amid the scramble, Taylors body weight landed squarely on Yoon’s ankle, an injury severe enough for the referee to stop the middleweight contest.

It was an anti-climatic end to Taylor’s DREAM debut, but he flashed some impressive wrestling during his very brief outing and will most certainly be expected back in DREAM at some point in the future. Since losing his lone UFC fight to CB Dollaway after the fallout from TUF 7, Taylor has won seven straight fights, including tonight’s bout against Yoon.

Mixed martial artist Ken Shamrock has seen it all throughout his 16-year career and has had broken bones from head to toe. He’s suffered a broken neck, wrist, foot and hand, in addition to tearing his anterior cruciate ligament.

If you play a sport, expect to get injured at some point during your playing career. Certain sports are more likely to hurt you than others. The injury rate in football, for example, is 100 percent.

MMA is no exception to injury, and its athletes are prone to a few not too pleasant injuries.

Something noticeable about fighters’ appearances is their swollen ears. This is an external deformity known as “cauliflower ear” and is seen in many of today’s fighters.

Cauliflower ear, or auricular hematomas, is caused by direct trauma—a blow to the ear is one way it is caused. When trauma occurs, the ear bruises and the torn vessels bleed. This leads to blood and fluid collection in the ear, which separates the cartilage and often causes new cartilage to form. This new cartilage does not usually grow symmetrically, which is why fighters’ ears look swollen and deformed.

Athletes prone to cauliflower ear include wrestlers, mixed martial artists, grapplers and rugby players, and it is sometimes thought of as a badge of honor by athletes.

Despite this, cauliflower ear is not something to take lightly because it brings major health effects and risks, as well as pain. The ear could possibly become infected, so antibiotics may be needed. If it remains untreated, the ear will harden and the ear drum often ruptures, making stitches necessary. Hearing loss often occurs with cauliflower ear.

To drain the fluid, a compress is needed to help strengthen cartilage and to avoid future fluid buildup. To prevent cauliflower ear, wearing some type of headgear is highly recommended.

Fighters often choose to still compete when suffering from cauliflower ear. However, other serious injuries may occur in a match, leaving fighters unable to compete in future events for some time.

According to an injury report from John Hopkins University School of Medicine Department for MMA (2002-2007), it was reported that in over 600 professional MMA matches, there was a reported general injury rate of 23.6 percent (300 out of 1,270 fighters).

The most common injury reported was lacerations. Other injuries included hand, nose and eye injuries, as well as various upper extremity injuries. This confirmed a previous study done by the same university from 2001-2004, which also reported that up to four injuries may have been recorded for each fighter during a match.

Hand injuries have been common in recent events. In a June 2009 fight against Mike Brown, Urijah Faber broke his right hand during the match and fought through the pain to lose by decision. His left hand also was injured as well.

Also noted in the study is that concussions were documented in three percent of matches. Concussions are a brain injury that occurs occasionally in full-contact sparring sports due to a blow to the head. They often lead to long-term damage. Every year, there are around 300,000 sports-related concussions.

The study concluded that overall risk for sports-related injury in MMA is fairly low. This is often attributed to the strict rules that the sport has in place to prevent injury.  In addition, depending on the severity and type of injury received, a medical suspension may prohibit a fighter from competing for a set amount of time.  This allows a fighter time to rest and heal.

Despite precautions, mixed martial artist Zach Kirk broke his neck and was paralyzed in May 2009 in an event in Iowa. Doctors are unsure if Kirk will regain his ability to walk.

Other injuries that mixed martial artists are prone to are broken bones, knee ligament tears and ankle or shoulder sprains. These injuries usually do not occur in training situations.

Well-known fighters to receive other various injuries include B.J. Penn who broke a rib during a match against Matt Hughes, and Matt Serra who suffered from a herniated disc.