When seen from the safe, comfortable vantage point of the living room sofa, it all seems so simple. Frank Mir was a UFC heavyweight champion with a long, decorated career in fight sports. His daughter, Bella, being of his genetic lineage, also seemed to have some natural aptitude for the mixing of the martial arts, so it was only a matter of time until we saw her on the way to the UFC.
So when some people see her fighting on this Tuesday’s edition of Dana White’s Contender Series, they might think nothing of it. Pure logical progression, right? You’d think so, at least, if you’ve never spoken to a professional fighter about this very issue.
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Many years ago I was having drinks with what you might call a mid-level UFC fighter whose wife had recently given birth to their first child. I offered my congratulations, like you do, and then without thinking much about it made an offhand remark about how maybe one day I’d cover one of his son’s UFC fights the same way I’d covered the father’s.
What I remember now is the look he gave me before he told me, in a tone of voice that said there was to be no joking on this subject, “That’s honestly my worst nightmare.”
Since I learn nothing, a couple years later I made the same mistake with former two-division UFC champion Jon Jones. Standing around the gym in Albuquerque, making conversation, I asked which of his daughters had the best chance of becoming a champion fighter some day.
In the same tone of voice, he shook his head and told me, nope, not his kids. Not ever. End of discussion.
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It wasn’t until I did a story on A.J. McKee’s run in Bellator that I started to understand the underlying thinking. I’d known his dad, Antonio, back when Antonio fought in the IFL. His son had turned out to be a very successful fighter, but it took a long time for Antonio to fully get on board.
“When you’ve lived that life yourself,” he told me once, “you know how hard it is and how many things can go wrong — even when you’re doing all the right things. I didn’t want that for my son.”
What changed his mind, he said, was when he realized that his son was going to do it anyway, whether his dad wanted him to or not. Might as well make sure he got the proper training and guidance, and from someone who knew what he was talking about.
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Mir seems to have gone through a similar progression when it comes to his daughter. As he said on “The Ariel Helwani Show” last year, when discussing Bella’s MMA career, anyone who’s fought for a living knows “there’s a lot of pitfalls, a lot of luck involved” in this business.
“That being said,” Mir added, “we didn’t want to [support a career for Bella in MMA], but she just pushed and was so driven. The writing was on the wall. My wife actually sat down and said, ‘We can either be a part of this journey or we can watch it from the sidelines.’ We chose to use the experience that we had to help her get the most she can out of this.”
Bella Mir (4-0) faces Alexa Apodaca (3-1) on Tuesday’s Contender Series for a shot at a UFC contract.
(Al Powers via Getty Images)
It tells you something about how brutal and difficult and unforgiving pro fighting is that even the people who’ve had tremendous success at it still try to keep their kids out of it. More than most people, they know all the ways this can go wrong. Even if you’re good at it, with some natural ability baked into your DNA, this sport has a million little tricks to break your heart and your bones and your spirit.
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But that’s the other thing about a career in fight sports. They’re so hard on so many different levels, that the only people who end up sticking around in them long enough for us to learn their names are the ones so stubbornly committed to them that trivial matters like parental disapproval will never stand in their way.
But for Bella Mir, the whole “learning her name” stage was never going to take long. She inherited that, along with physical gifts. She also inherited the expectations that come along with all that.
There’s a reason her Contender Series moment feels like big news in the MMA world, while all the others feel like just another Tuesday night tryout. It’s because we’re already prepared to believe, based on the last name and some early returns, that we could be witnessing the early stages of a championship run.
Bella Mir is already 3-0 under the UFC BJJ banner.
(Chris Unger via Getty Images)
The women’s divisions in the UFC, in particular, could use that sort of excitement now. The fans could use it too. We’re all desperate to get in on the ground floor of something that feels big and special. The rise of a former UFC champion’s daughter — one who seems like a legitimate MMA talent — checks all those boxes.
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That’s a lot to put on a 23-year-old with four pro fights. But her dad must have known this was coming, too. There are advantages to starting out in this sport with a name we already know. That name also comes with a target that every other fighter in the division will be aiming at.
Add it to the list of ways this sport can break a person. Just don’t expect it to make much of a difference to those who’ve already decided it’s the only life they want.
