Bella Mir entered Dana White’s Contender Series on Tuesday night with some massive expectations. The daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir was the biggest betting favorite ever in DWCS history, but her opponent Alex Apodaca had other plans.

Mir entered the fight as a staggering -6000 favorite, breaking Valentina Shevchenko’s older sister, Antonina Shevchenko’s, previous record of -1350 in 2018. However, despite the odds, Apodaca pulled off one of the most remarkable upsets in the show’s history, winning via unanimous decision with all three judges scoring the fight 29-28 in her favor. But while ‘Lady’ herself took the loss relatively well, her mother certainly did not.

“You lucked out tonight; the judges were OBVIOUSLY in your favor!!!! Celebrate a win that you didn’t earn!!!!!” Jennifer Mir wrote on X, accusing Alex Apodaca of being handed the win by judges.

She was even more fired up in the comments of a video featuring Apodaca’s post-fight press conference.

“I love jet eye that’s popping out from my daughter f—- you up!!!!!” she commented on the injury the 32-year-old got while facing Mir. “The stars were aligned for you tonight babygirl.”

But that’s not all, as she then took another aim at the judging.

“I’m sure Dana will be firing some judges tonight!!!! 😂😂😂😂,” she wrote.

Even though Alex Apodaca was awarded a UFC contract after the biggest win of her career, Bella Mir’s mother wasn’t ready to give her credit for it, insisting that the underdog had not deserved the win.

“Best day of her life!!! Suck it up baby girl😘,” she commented yet again.

In fact, the outcry grew even stronger as she shared a video on her Instagram, comparing her daughter’s upset defeat to Kobe Bryant’s infamous 1997 playoff struggle as an 18-year-old.

“So Bella Mir just got fraud checked as a minus 6,000 favorite,” the creator said in the video. “But you know what? I stand on what the f— I said, n—-. She’s still the female Kobe Bryant in women’s MMA. Because you know what happened to Kobe when he was 18 years old, playing against the f—— Utah Jazz in the playoffs, n—-? He shot four f——- air balls in crunch time, n—-.

“He shot four air balls. One of them cost him the f—— game. So you know what? It’s all good. This is just her airball game. This is her humiliation ritual. Because when she comes back, n—-, when she comes back and contender series gets trying to believe, she’s gonna be f—— back.”

However, it is worth noting that for all the frustration surrounding the result, Bella Mir herself has taken a very different approach to the loss.

Bella Mir shows real optimism after DWCS defeat

‘Lady’ addressed her first professional MMA defeat on social media and made it clear that she isn’t allowing one disappointing night to derail her young career.

“I’ve lost so many times. Big or small, each loss carries me into a different mindset and learning experience to be a better athlete,” Bella Mir wrote on her Instagram. “I have overcome every single obstacle into my life and I will overcome this one. Now it’s just a bit different that this loss is more famous than my other ones.

“Thank you so much to everyone sending me love and encouragement. And I promise to all of you that it takes way more than hate and 1 single loss in my MMA career to break me.”

Unlike her mother, the 4-1 fighter showed some respect to her opponent.

“I also want to thank Alex for taking this fight, all respect to her,” she further added. “Everytime I lose, I come back and win something bigger and better.

“No loss has ever defined me, and neither will this one. And how cool is it to do what I love on such a big platform. Literally living my dream!! Next Best Thing.”

Bella Mir, who is only 23 years old, has lots of time to develop. She arrived at DWCS with a ton of hype and a great resume, but her fight with Alex Apodaca showed that she still has some work to do before she’s ready for the UFC level.

‘Lady’ has already had an unusual MMA journey. She made her professional debut in 2020, winning twice, before taking a two-year hiatus. After returning in 2022, she took another lengthy break before making her way back to competition.

She ultimately landed a spectacular “chicken wing” submission at Fury Challenger Series 14, earning a UFC BJJ opportunity before making her highly anticipated Contender Series debut.

It is also worth noting that one loss does not mean the end of the road. Max Holloway famously lost his UFC debut to Dustin Poirier back in 2012 before going on to become one of the biggest stars in the promotion’s history.

Belal Muhammad, a former UFC welterweight champion, also lost his promotional debut to Alan Jouban by unanimous decision in 2016 before eventually winning the title.

Similarly, former UFC light heavyweight champion Magomed Ankalaev lost his promotional debut to Paul Craig with a last-second triangle choke in 2018 before rising to become one of the division’s kingpins.

Now, it is Bella Mir who will have to go back to the drawing board. Given the investment the UFC has already made in her, as she became the promotion’s first NIL ambassador while she was still competing in college wrestling, and the potential attached to the Mir name, this likely isn’t the end of her MMA journey.

She’ll just have to transform the most embarrassing setback of her young career into the learning opportunity she believes it can be.