Frank Mir caught with bullets in Brazil, detained by airport security
Frank Mir caught with bullets in Brazil, detained by airport security
UFC heavyweight and former champion Frank Mir meets Antonio ‘Bigfoot’ Silva in the headlining bout of UFC Fight Night 61 in Brazil on Sunday but the Las Vegas native had a rough start upon arrival in South America.
Upon arriving at the airport, security discovered two 9mm bullets inside one of his bags. When the submission specialist explained to the officers that it was a simple mistake and that he accidentally left them in there during his previous shooting session in Las Vegas, Nevada, security had no choice but to detain him.
“I have a bunch of different gym bags, too many bags that I use, and my backpack. I guess I hadn’t used it since I went shooting last. I flew from (Las) Vegas to (Los Angeles); no one noticed it. I flew from LA to Sao Paulo; no one noticed it.”
Mir says security was being pretty reasonable, for the most part, and were going to let him be on his way without further proceedings. But, one officer felt the need to follow the book and get police involved, seeing as how firearms are illegal in the country of Brazil.
“The first guy, he kind of panicked a little bit (and said), ‘I’ve got to call the police.’ He walked off. It kind of sucked because the manager of the area, she came over and we were explaining the whole situation, and she basically said, ‘Let’s forget this. It’s an understandable mistake.’ But then the other guy ran off with my passport. Firearms are illegal here in Brazil, so he stressed out a little bit.”
Mir says he did have access to his cell phone and dialed up UFC President Dana White to inform him of the situation.
“They were being pretty casual with me, as far as I had access to my phone. I was like, I’m not going to call the wife — what’s she going to do besides panic and freak out? I know where the buck’s eventually going to stop. Let me start out at the top of the food chain and let that sort it out. It will save me a bunch of phone calls.”
After an hour of waiting, Mir was eventually set free, though his bullets stayed back.
Now that Mir is free it appears that Sunday’s headlining bout is a go and there is not threat to the fight being cancelled.
