LAS VEGAS – Dana White sees big things in Bella Mir's future.
Mir (4-0), the daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, will look to secure a UFC contract when she takes on Alex Apodaca (3-1) in the featured women's bantamweight bout at Dana White's Contender Series 89 on Aug. 25 from Meta APEX in Las Vegas (Paramount+).
"Yeah, I'm very excited about Bella," White said during a post-fight news conference Tuesday. "I've been very involved in her life the last four years. It's going to be fun."
Mir hopes to become the first active UFC fighter to compete for the Olympics as she targets the 2028 games in wrestling. That goal could be within reach if she impresses at DWCS 89, but White said her goals are even bigger than that.
"The Olympics,
UFC championship, Zuffa Boxing, and UFC BJJ, she wants a title in all of those organizations," White said. "Yeah, we've talked about it. I mean, she presented that to me. I've been talking about her career with her for four years. I don't want to talk too much about personal stuff, but I'm the one who pushed her to go to college and get a college education because she was ready to start fighting right out of high school.
"That was the goal, too, in college. Not just for her to get an education, but to break some college records. This girl would go to school and she was wrestling, and then she'd come home on vacation – you know, you come home, Thanksgiving and Christmas, and she would enter these jiu-jitsu competitions and win them. You know, while she was only wrestling, not even doing jiu-jitsu. So, she's special."
This article originally appeared on MMA Junkie: Dana White 'very excited' about Bella Mir competing for UFC contract
