Bella Mir is likely to be one of many busiest 22 12 months previous athletes on the planet.
After scoring a win at UFC BJJ 1in June, her fourth skilled combat is ready for Fury Challenger Sequence 14 on Sunday as she returns to MMA for the primary time in over three years. Her absence from combating wasn’t self-chosen however moderately a necessity as she discovered her future in wrestling after beginning out within the powerhouse program at Iowa however almost gave up the game attributable to accidents.
“After I went to school, the settlement was combat over the summer time after which wrestle all year long,” Mir instructed MMA Combating. “However my first 12 months in school, went to Junior Worlds and I used to be having some battle of curiosity with my previous coaches with combating and coaching different disciplines aside from wrestling. So I transferred to North Central [College] they usually completely beloved and wished me to combat and do jiu-jitsu and compete within the different two sports activities.
“However final 12 months, I truly was making an attempt to get a combat. It was actually arduous for opponents and planning and dates and simply making an attempt to get it scheduled. So I truly was planning on having a combat final 12 months. I used to be coaching all summer time. I went to jiu-jitsu nationals and I used to be coaching but it surely was arduous to get an opponent. Lastly this 12 months issues lined up and I’m grateful for [my opponent] accepting the combat.”
The College of Iowa boasts one of the profitable girls’s wrestling packages within the nation with 2024 Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades additionally on that workforce. Mir discovered success at Iowa however she additionally felt like her physique was betraying her with a number of accidents that simply saved her sidelined for too lengthy.
She was almost prepared to surrender wrestling and simply give attention to different fight sports activities however she determined to switch to a brand new college — one other standout school for girls’s wrestlers — and that paid off big.
“The principle cause [I left Iowa] for positive was my accidents and having to cope with that every one 12 months,” Mir mentioned. “I really feel like for me once I see the larger image, I’m like I’m not simply wrestling in school for 4 years after which going and having a standard job or simply wrestling senior degree tournaments internationally.
“I’m going and nonetheless doing all three [sports] so far as I can and MMA/UFC has at all times been my fundamental aim. I would like my physique for that.”
Mir truly turned to UFC CEO Dana White for recommendation after he signed her as the primary ever athlete to do a reputation, picture and likeness rights cope with the promotion. After all, she’s nearly been a part of the UFC household since start because of her father Frank Mir, who’s a two-time heavyweight champion and spent 15 years combating there.
She credit White with convincing her to offer school wrestling one other attempt.
“I talked with my coaches and Dana White, I’ve conferences with him loads, and he sort of was identical to ‘why don’t we switch, let’s simply see in the event you want a unique atmosphere or perhaps it’s your physique and also you’re not meant for wrestling anymore,’” Mir revealed. “I used to be like that’s fairly honest.
“So I transferred and by no means obtained one other damage. I feel it was my atmosphere and the coaching. Not each college is for each individual. Iowa is a good place. The followers, the women, the teammates, the environment, Iowa’s nice. It’s a Division I powerhouse and it simply wasn’t the place for me and North Central is a approach higher match.”
Mir completed second at 145 kilos on the 2025 NCAA Girls’s Wrestling Championships in her first 12 months at North Central and that’s solely serving as motivation for her future endeavors.
She’s clearly going again to school however Mir additionally has her sights set on 2028 when the Olympic video games land in Los Angeles. The possibility to signify America on the most important stage in athletics with the Olympics in the US is a dream come true, which is why Mir is holding wrestling on the forefront of her thoughts for the subsequent few years.
“Going to the Olympic trials and making that workforce, I really feel such as you wrestle at any degree, whose dream is it to not go to the Olympics and go signify America on their again and their chest?” Mir mentioned. “After all, that’s my aim. Making senior degree groups and profitable world medals for wrestling. That’s at all times been my aim. I’ve at all times wished to only be one of the best I could possibly be for wrestling and have these checkmarks throughout all of my objectives for wrestling. That’s undoubtedly my fundamental focus proper now could be wrestling.”
That mentioned, Mir continues to be practising Brazilian jiu-jitsu a couple of instances per week and he or she’s persevering with to coach in MMA as nicely in the course of the wrestling offseason, which is how this upcoming combat obtained scheduled.
“Wrestling is my precedence proper now,” Mir mentioned. “My subsequent occasion isn’t till Oct. 20-26 in Serbia for U23 Worlds so I’m going to benefit from all this time and I’m going to compete in as a lot MMA and jiu-jitsu as I can and practice and spar as a lot as I can.
“Clearly, I nonetheless practice wrestling. I’m nonetheless doing freestyle as a result of I don’t need to lose that for October and clearly my aim is for 2028 however no undoubtedly wrestling is for positive my No. 1 [sport] for now as a result of I really feel like once I’m older, I’m not going to need to wrestle anymore as a result of wrestling is so arduous in your physique.”
Whereas wrestling is taking over the majority of her time proper now, Mir admits that her need to affix one of the best fighters on the planet within the UFC is unquestionably getting arduous to disregard.
She stays in fixed contact with White and at all times receives recommendation from her father so far as her profession is anxious however Mir doesn’t low cost the chance that she begins combating within the UFC earlier than her wrestling profession is completed.
“I really feel like after UFC BJJ 1, it’s made me suppose loads about how I would like my timing to be going into the UFC,” Mir mentioned. “As a result of I thought of perhaps as soon as I’m graduated from school, perhaps I begin doing UFC fights, perhaps simply Contender Sequence or perhaps prelim fights, perhaps that could possibly be my contract. Me and Dana have such a detailed relationship and I do know he’s going to advise what’s greatest for me. I do belief him and he’s been working with me for a very long time.
“However I’ve thought of doing that, I’ve thought of perhaps ready till 2028 if I need to combat within the UFC and I simply maintain having UFC Struggle Cross fights over the summers or simply every time I can, when it’s not throughout wrestling season. I’ve been going forwards and backwards after UFC BJJ 1, simply making an attempt to determine how I would like my timing to be.”
Mir says having White in her nook has been an enormous profit as she makes these main choices about her athletic future. Till additional discover, Mir nonetheless ranks wrestling as her No. 1 sport for now however she is aware of it’s solely a matter of time earlier than MMA turns into her sole focus.
“I actually couldn’t be extra grateful the place I’m in,” Mir mentioned. “The way in which the UFC helps me and Dana, what extra may you ask for? Typically it chokes me up once I’m sitting there and I’m seeing one thing on Instagram, I’m simply so grateful and I couldn’t have requested for a greater alternative than having the UFC work with me and help me and Dana and all of the employees part of the UFC.
“I really feel like [wrestling] would be the first sport I retire from since you don’t see many 40 12 months olds wrestling that you simply do in jiu-jitsu and MMA. I actually need to benefit from my youth and take benefit [that] I’m in a very great place proper now making the finals for collegiate nationals for NCAA’s and the U.S. Open. I really feel like I’m proper there with these high women. I really feel like I’m getting higher yearly.”
