Gracie opened up Mir’s eyes

Frank Mir says seeing Royce Gracie becoming the first Ultimate Fighting Champion opened his eyes to a new style of fighting.

Mir will fight Brock Lesnar at UFC 100 in Las Vegas, but took a little time this week to talk about UFC 1.

“As far as early UFC memories, I think of the first UFC,” Mir told MMA FanHouse. “At that time, I was under the same assumption that everybody else was, that if you punch somebody they go down. I never had any clue about grappling.

“I thought wrestling was just a sport in college and the Olympics, and I never realized that judo and jiu jitsu were very dominant martial arts. That was an eye-opening experience for me. I just sat there watching, completely dumbfounded by the whole situation.”

Tags: Brock Lesnar, Frank Mir, Royce Gracie, UFC