{"id":872751,"date":"2026-08-27T01:14:10","date_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:14:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872751\/"},"modified":"2026-08-27T01:14:10","modified_gmt":"2026-08-27T01:14:10","slug":"bella-mirs-coach-speaks-on-prospects-shocking-upset-loss-on-dana-whites-contender-series","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/872751\/","title":{"rendered":"Bella Mir&#8217;s coach speaks on prospect&#8217;s shocking upset loss on Dana White&#8217;s Contender Series"},"content":{"rendered":"<p>Trending:<a class=\"exactmetrics-inline-popular-posts-title\" href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/ufc\/alex-pereira-wont-wait-on-tom-aspinall-vs-ciryl-gane-before-his-next-fight-i-want-to-fight-for-the-belt\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">Alex Pereira won\u2019t wait on Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane before his next fight: \u201cI want to fight for the belt\u201d<\/a><img decoding=\"async\" width=\"640\" height=\"360\" src=\"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/08\/MixCollage-26-Aug-2026-03-34-PM-1841-1024x576.jpg\" class=\"nlz w-full h-auto wp-post-image\" alt=\"Alex Apodaca punches Bella Mir\" fetchpriority=\"high\"   data-eio=\"p\"\/>Credit: Al Powers\/Zuffa LLC<\/p>\n<p>Bella Mir\u2019s team issued its first public comments about what went wrong with the highly-touted prospect during Tuesday\u2019s DWCS fight.<\/p>\n<p>Bella Mir, the daughter of former UFC champion Frank Mir, suffered the first loss of her Mixed Martial Arts career on Tuesday night on the latest rendition of Dana White\u2019s Contender Series. Mir, who entered her fight with Alex Apodaca as one of the biggest favorites in the show\u2019s history, lost by unanimous decision in a stunning end to an exciting night of fights.<\/p>\n<p>UFC CEO Dana White, who <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/mma-news\/dana-white\/dana-white-reacts-to-bella-mirs-shocking-contender-series-defeat\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">shares a longtime friendship<\/a> with the Mir family, was shocked during his post-fight press conference by her performance. Before falling short of a UFC contract, Mir earned three consecutive first-round wins and was regarded as one of the top female prospects in MMA.<\/p>\n<p>Despite the devastating defeat, the 23-year-old Mir could potentially get a second shot to fight in the UFC with more experience in the cage. Just hours after Mir\u2019s defeat, her team took to social media to react to the loss and preview what\u2019s next for the promising young star.<\/p>\n<p>Bella Mir\u2019s team issues first comments since stunning Dana White\u2019s Contender Series loss<\/p>\n<p>In a recent <a href=\"https:\/\/www.instagram.com\/p\/DchAeD9Ad3W\/?hl=en&amp;img_index=1\" target=\"_blank\" rel=\"noopener nofollow\">Instagram<\/a> post, Mir\u2019s longtime wrestling coach Don McGregor issued the team\u2019s first public statement about her stunning defeat.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe win together, and we lose together. We have been here before, after losing in the national finals in HS and college. The messaging is always the same,\u201d McGregor said of Mir.<\/p>\n<p>\u201cWe\u2019re not defined by our wins and losses, but by our character, our integrity, and the way we treat others in our lives. We are all so proud of you. Your MMA career and legacy are just beginning.\u201d<\/p>\n<p>As for Apodaca, she becomes the latest addition to the UFC\u2019s women\u2019s bantamweight division, which is in desperate need of new star power.<\/p>\n<p>What are your thoughts on Bella Mir\u2019s MMA future? Let us know your thoughts in the comments!<\/p>\n<p class=\"mb-1 mt-0 os-source\">This article appeared first on <a href=\"https:\/\/www.bjpenn.com\/\" rel=\"nofollow noopener\" target=\"_blank\">BJPENN.COM<\/a><\/p>\n<p>    <script async src=\"\/\/www.instagram.com\/embed.js\"><\/script><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Trending:Alex Pereira won\u2019t wait on Tom Aspinall vs. Ciryl Gane before his next fight: \u201cI want to fight&hellip;\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":872752,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[444],"tags":[297748,22133,49,48,10359,85692,641,638,82,640],"class_list":["post-872751","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-mma","tag-alex-apodaca","tag-bella-mir","tag-ca","tag-canada","tag-dana-white","tag-dana-whites-contender-series","tag-fighting","tag-mma","tag-sports","tag-ufc"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872751","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=872751"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/872751\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/872752"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=872751"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=872751"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ca\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=872751"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}