UFC’s Contender Series has now delivered one of the greatest upsets in MMA history — at least in terms of the odds.
In the show’s Season 10, Week 4 main event on Tuesday, -6000 betting favorite Bella Mir — the much-ballyhooed daughter of UFC legend Frank Mir — suffered the shocking first loss of her professional MMA career to +1500 underdog Alex Apodaca via a unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28). With the win, Apodaca earned herself a UFC contract.
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Mir, 23, has long been considered a blue-chip combat sports prospect under the tutelage of her former UFC heavyweight champion father. UFC CEO Dana White, who’s known Bella since she was a child, spoke openly in the lead-up to Tuesday’s Contender Series fight about the possibility of the young phenom competing at the 2028 Olympics while pursue titles in multiple TKO properties: the UFC, UFC BJJ and Zuffa Boxing.
“Alex, what you had to face tonight [was different],” White said following the result. “Now, I’m very proud of myself that in 10 years of doing [Contender Series], I have never had any bias. I don’t know anything about anybody coming in. I was overly biased on this fight. I’ve known Bella for a long time — four years ago we started mapping out her plan and who she was going to be, and you came in tonight [and changed all of that].
“Unbelievable upset. Congratulations, you’re in the UFC.”
White also proclaimed Apodaca as “the biggest underdog in the history of the UFC,” in terms of the betting odds.
Apodaca (4-1) dealt with jabs from Mir in the early going of the fight as she quickly established forward pressure. Mir found a home with left hooks before she pursued her first takedown to no avail, then pushed Apodaca back into range to rattle off more hooks. That was largely the story of Round 1, as Apodaca evaded Mir’s grappling attempts until late in the frame, reversing position for some good ground-and-pound punches to land.
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After appearing to lose momentum in the closing minute of the opening round, Mir (4-1) tried to regain steam with an instant takedown in the second stanza. Apodaca continued to defend all the grappling exchanges well, while landing punches in tight quarters. Mir’s hooks and left-handed punches continued to find their mark, but so did Apodaca’s jab and body kicks, which eventually badly bloodied Mir’s nose.
The final round saw Apodaca start strong with big punches while also working her jab. A stuffed takedown from Apodaca gave her top control with Mir turtled, allowing some body punches before Mir burst to her feet. Mir ate a staggering jab upon her stand-up then found a sequence to drag her way onto Apodaca’s back, however she ultimately landed minimal damage with the position and mostly controlled with minor threats of a rear-naked choke before setting up a potential Hail Mary twister in the final 10 seconds. Apodaca landed a strong hammerfist at the bell for good measure.
For Mir, she has to go back to the drawing board after suffering the first defeat of her pro MMA career. The fight was her first in more than a year, though she had kept busy with a trio of grappling contests — one in wrestling for RAF and two in grappling matches in UFC BJJ.
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Along with Apodaca, all four of the other Contender Series winners from the night earned UFC contracts from White.
Check out the complete Dana White’s Contender Series: Season 10, Week 4 results and highlights below.
Results and highlights
Women’s bantamweight: Alex Apodaca def. Bella Mir via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28)
Heavyweight: Guilherme Uriel def. Mario Piazzon via submission (standing guillotine) at :50 of R1 | Watch finish
Welterweight: Sean Clancy Jr. def. Gary Belleto Jr. via TKO (elbows) at 3:54 of R2 | Watch finish
Welterweight: Ronald Humphrey def. Alexis Miranda via submission (rear-naked choke) at 4:03 of R1 | Watch finish
Middleweight: Nick Galanti def. Carlos Petruzzella via KO (punches) at :35 of R1 | Watch finish
