Francisco Santos Miranda, III (born May 24, 1979), better known as Frank Mir, is an American mixed martial artist, as well as a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Kenpō Karate.

Mir, one of the most accomplished heavyweights in MMA history, is a two time UFC Heavyweight Champion . He currently holds the record for most victories in the heavyweight division of the UFC with 14 and most wins by submission in UFC Heavyweight division history with 8. He is also the only man in UFC history to win a bout by toe hold. As of January 2012 he is ranked the #4 In the ESPN MMA Power Rankings.He holds the distinction of being the first and only man to both knock out and submit MMA legend Antônio Rodrigo Nogueira. Mir is the only person to submit former UFC Heavyweight Champion and NCAA Division I wrestler Brock Lesnar and highly regarded striker Cheick Kongo. Frank Mir has had more fights in the UFC than anyone else currently competing in the heavyweight division.

His father convinced him to begin wrestling, on the basis that it could help him avoid submissions. Mir then began wrestling at Bonanza High School in Las Vegas, Nevada where during his junior year he lost his first nine matches. During his senior year (1998) he went 44–1 and won the state championship. He was also on the school's football team that reached the Southern Zone semifinals in 1997 and where he played as fullback and defensive end. He also took up track and field in 1998 where his discus throw of 177 feet, 10 inches is still a Sunset Regional record.

Mir (Russian: Мир, IPA: [ˈmʲir]; lit. Peace or World) was a space station operated in low Earth orbit from 1986 to 2001, at first by the Soviet Union and then by Russia. Assembled in orbit from 1986 to 1996, Mir was the first modular space station and had a greater mass than that of any previous spacecraft, holding the record for the largest artificial satellite orbiting the Earth until its deorbit on 21 March 2001 (a record now surpassed by the International Space Station). Mir served as a microgravity research laboratory in which crews conducted experiments in biology, human biology, physics, astronomy, meteorology and spacecraft systems in order to develop technologies required for the permanent occupation of space.

The station was the first consistently inhabited long-term research station in space and was operated by a series of long-duration crews. The Mir programme held the record for the longest uninterrupted human presence in space, at 3,644 days, until 23 October 2010 (when it was surpassed by the ISS), and it currently holds the record for the longest single human spaceflight, of Valeri Polyakov, at 437 days 18 hours. Mir was occupied for a total of twelve and a half years of its fifteen-year lifespan, having the capacity to support a resident crew of three, and larger crews for short-term visits.

Alistair Cees Overeem (born May 17, 1980) is a British born Dutch mixed martial artist and kickboxer, signed to the Ultimate Fighting Championship. He is the former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion, Dream Heavyweight Champion, K-1 World Grand Prix Champion, and made history by being the only fighter in combat sports to hold a world title in both MMA and K-1 kickboxing at the same time. Alistair Overeem is ranked #3 in the heavyweight division.

Overeem was born on (1980-05-17)May 17, 1980, to a Dutch mother and Jamaican father. His parents divorced when he was six years old. His mother, Clair, then moved Alistair and his brother Valentijn to the Netherlands, where Alistair has lived ever since.

As a child, Overeem competed in sports like judo, athletics and basketball. At 15 years of age, his brother Valentijn took him to Chris Dolman's gym to teach him how to defend himself. At first he didn't like to train, but after training with Bas Rutten, Joop Kasteel and others, he eventually learned to enjoy it.

Ian William Freeman, a.k.a. "The Machine," (born November 10, 1966) is a retired English mixed martial artist. He used to fight as a light heavyweight for Cage Rage. He was their final British Light Heavyweight champion. He was the first English person to fight in the UFC and holds a UFC record of 3-2-1.^{[citation needed]} He was also the first person to beat former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir. Freeman also holds a notable victory over veteran Travis Fulton.

Ian Freeman came into martial arts from boxing, in which he'd trained for around 10 years. While working as a doorman, he ended up fighting with a man who was intoxicated and a friend mentioned that rather than punch him, he should have choked the man unconscious. Curious as to what he could learn, he started training in Goshin Jujitsu for around six to eight months before competing in an amateur Vale tudo competition. In his early days, he trained periodically with various instructors, including Marco Ruas and Renzo Gracie.

Freeman entered the professional circuit in 1999, considered an early ambassador for mixed martial arts and given the nickname, "the Iron Ambassador." In early 2000, UFC approached Ian to fight at UFC 24, where he lost to Scott Adams. He fought two more times in the UFC, winning both times. Later, Freeman's career hit a low point with four losses in a row, but he returned with a submission win in a rematch with Stanislav Nuschik.

Daniel Cormier (born March 20, 1979) is an American mixed martial artist and a former Olympic wrestler. He is currently signed to Strikeforce, fighting in the heavyweight division. Cormier is ranked #4 in the heavyweight division by Fight Matrix.

Cormier is the son of Joseph and Audrey Cormier. He has an older brother named Joseph and a sister named Felicia. When Cormier was seven, his father was shot and killed on Thanksgiving Day in 1986 by the father of his second wife.

He was a three-time Louisiana wrestling state champion in high school and high school All-American. In high school, Northside High School, he suffered only two losses after his freshman year, both coming in injury defaults. He had a 101–9 record during his high school career and was also an All-State performer in football. After high school he attended Colby Community College where he was a two-time junior college national champion. After Colby he transferred to wrestling powerhouse Oklahoma State University where he was an NCAA runner-up, losing to Cael Sanderson in the finals.