Bella Mir came into Tuesday Night’s Contender Series event with a crazy amount of hype, and a lot of that hype came directly from UFC CEO Dana White.
Bella is the daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, and it’s clear that White and many others saw her as a potential second coming of Ronda Rousey. Confident, cocky, and talented, Mir was a ‘one of one unicorn,’ according to White.
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And on Tuesday night, +1200 underdog Alex Apodaca outworked her to take a 29-28×3 unanimous decision, sending Mir back to the minors and drawing board. It was Apodaca that would get the UFC contract, not Mir.
At the post-event press conference, White didn’t walk away from his earlier support for Mir.
“I was extremely biased coming into tonight,” he admitted. “I’ve been close to her for over four years. Four years ago she came to me and just wanted to map out her future. I’m the one that talked her into going to college and waiting. Getting a wrestling background in college, doing some great things there, and then come here. You guys all heard what her goals were for the next several years.”
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Mir had previously stated she didn’t just want to become a UFC champion, but a UFC BJJ and Zuffa Boxing champion. She wanted to become not just the greatest fighter ever, but the greatest athlete. She’ll have to work hard to accomplish that after Tuesday’s setback, but White said the loss may help.
“[Michael] Bisping absolutely nailed it and said, ‘The difference in this fight is deep water,'” White said. “Bella’s never been there. Alex has … She didn’t have deep water experience and now she does. She didn’t fold, she didn’t get stopped, she didn’t quit. This is all part of the game.”
“I don’t know if it’s better to lose. If tonight she was in the deep water like she was and pulled out the win in the third round, then it’s like, ‘Holy s–t, this is a wake-up call. I’m not as dominant as I thought I was gonna be, and I got a lot of things to work on.'”
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White also mentioned the wild odds that had Bella a ridiculous -4000 favorite.
“If you’re a sports bettor, this is the greatest show in the world,” he said. “Because you can literally spread a couple grand across — that fight would have paid for your whole year of gambling. Nobody in this sport is that big of an underdog.”
