Bella Mir now has a name, date and main-event slot for her bid to earn a UFC contract. The unbeaten prospect will face Alex Apodaca in the women’s bantamweight headliner for Dana White’s Contender Series on Aug. 25.
The five-fight Week 3 card takes place at the UFC APEX in Las Vegas, starts at 8 p.m. ET and streams on Paramount+. Mir enters at 4-0; Apodaca is 3-1 after three consecutive unanimous-decision wins.
Mir disclosed the Contender Series talks in July without revealing her opponent or date. Her interview laid out how the opportunity fit between MMA, wrestling and UFC BJJ commitments.
“Yes, sir. I’m just excited to get it going. Hopefully, I can get something announced soon, but yeah, there’s some discussions going on.”
“Most likely, yeah.”
“No, this was always the plan. I think my plan is just always taking every opportunity thrown at me. And if that happens to be MMA or wrestling or whatever it is.”
“This actually is, like, perfectly timed for me because I made the U23 world team for wrestling, and that’s in the end of October. So I’ll have just enough time to train after and get ready for that, and then obviously also train for Final X because Kennedy pulled out for injury. So I also have that going on, and then obviously hopefully a UFC BJJ title fight coming too. So I just, yeah, I’m always busy.”
Mir Has Finished Three Straight MMA Opponents
Mir, 23, made her professional debut at 17 and won a decision over Danielle Wynn in October 2020. She followed it with first-round submissions of Alma Cespedes, Jessica Link-Davis and Stephanie Calderon, giving her a 75 percent professional finish rate.
The Calderon victory came by hammerlock in July 2025 after more than three years away from MMA. Mir used that gap to build her wrestling and submission-grappling résumé. She became the UFC’s first NIL ambassador in 2023, made the NCAA finals at 145 pounds for North Central College and competed for the United States at the U20 and U23 world level.
Mir also submitted Nichelle Johnson by armbar at UFC BJJ 9 in June, adding another finish before returning to an MMA camp.
Apodaca Brings A Three-Fight Decision Streak
Apodaca lost her March 2024 professional debut to Nikola Kacperska, then swept Karine Cristine, Shanna Gomez and Devon McDonald on the scorecards. The McDonald win came at Fury FC 122 on July 24, leaving Apodaca barely a month between competition dates.
All four of Apodaca’s professional fights have reached the final bell. Mir’s last three have ended in Round 1. That contrast gives the main event a clear test: Apodaca must extend a proven finisher, while Mir must show that her grappling carries against an opponent who has completed 12 professional rounds.
The rest of the Aug. 25 lineup includes Carlos Petruzzella vs. Nick Galanti, Gary Balletto Jr. vs. Sean Clancy Jr., Alexis Miranda vs. Ronald Humphrey, and Mario Piazzon vs. Guilherme Uriel. The winner of Mir-Apodaca is not automatically guaranteed a contract, but the headliner places the closing audition in front of White and the UFC matchmakers.
