Frank Mir knocks Antonio Silva out, earns first win in years

Frank Mir made quick of his first opponent in over a year on Sunday night. The former two-time UFC heavyweight champion knocked Antonio "Bigfoot" Silva out in the first round of their Fight Night main event in Porto Alegre, Brazil.

Mir became the ninth underdog fighter on Sunday's UFC event to pull out an unexpected win. Mir's return to the win column was truly a beating-the-odds story, as it was his first time tasting victory since 2011.

A jab-left hook combination from Mir floored Silva. From there, Mir followed up with ground strikes that were academic, and forced the referee to stop the fight at 1:40 of the opening round.

Mir credited his wife for forcing him to take time off to rest and heal, as well as a new group of coaches who "put me on a different level, now."

Prior to this win, Mir had lost four straight fights, dating back to May 2012. After a near 14-year professional career, the 35 year-old's decision to step away from competition for a year appears to have been a sage one.

The win improves the future Hall of Famer's overall record to 17-9. Silva's loss was his second straight, and his career mark falls to 18-7.

Afterwards, at the post-event press conference, Mir admitted to giving up on his fight career, at one point. "Absolutely," he said.

"I actually had a meeting with [UFC co-owner and CEO] Lorenzo [Fertitta], told him, 'I'm done.' I wanted to look at broadcasting, or what not."

Instead of offically retiring, however, Mir took the advice of his wife to take a break from the sport. From there, yoga, gymnastics, old training partners, rest and new coaching helped convince Mir that he should make a return.

Then, my wife laughed at me. She said, "why don't you just take my advice, and let's not do anything and talk about fighting for six months. You just take a break. Just let your body heal.

"I went to yoga with her," Mir remembered with a chuckle.

"I did it for about ten minutes. I couldn't even hold downward-facing dog because of so many different aches and pains. I'm sitting there thinking, 'you know, my overall fitness kind of sucks, right now. I'm just so banged up and beat up.'

"So, I followed her advice, took a bunch of time off, and even then I wasn't convinced I was coming back."

After returning to fight training and working with an old friend of his, Mir realized that he had perhaps turned a corner in his recovery.

"'Man you're moving like you were back in your mid-twenties,'" Mir remembered his training partner telling him.

"I'm like, 'I know, I feel real good.'"