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Dana White sees daughter of UFC legend winning 4 titles, including Olympics and UFC

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3 months ago

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Dana White sees daughter of UFC legend winning 4 titles, including Olympics and UFC

Dana White sees the sky as the limit for combat sports prodigy Bella Mir.

This season of Dana White's Contender Series features Mir – the daughter of UFC legend Frank Mir – vying for a UFC contract when she fights Alex Apodaca on Aug. 25. Mir already has a working relationship with the UFC, having signed on to be its first NIL ambassador in 2023 during her freshman year competing as a wrestler at the University of Iowa.

Should she impress against Apodaca, it's possible the 23-year-old Mir could be signed to the UFC in 2026 and continue following in her father's footsteps.

“I'm very excited about Bella,†White said speaking to the media after Tuesday's DWCS show in Las Vegas. “I've been very involved in her life the last four years, so have fun.â€

Frank was a prodigy in his own right, using his lethal submission skills run through the heavyweight division and capture a UFC title at the age of 25. A motorcycle accident later forced him to vacate the belt before he had a chance to defend it, but he remained a world title contender for a decade and captured an interim belt in 2008.

Bella has already begun filling her own trophy case, upsetting Reese Larramendy in the finals of the NCAA wrestling championships this past March to become a Division I wrestling champion at 145 pounds. That could be the first title of many for Mir, based on conversations she's had with White.

“The Olympics. The UFC championship. Zuffa Boxing. And UFC BJJ,†White said. “She wants a title in all of those organizations. … We've talked about it. She presented that to me and 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 that really pushed her to go to college and get a college education because she was ready to start fighting right out of high school.â€

A win on Aug. 25 doesn't guarantee Mir will be signed, and even if she gets a contract it could be a developmental deal as opposed to an immediate call-up to the big show given her age and inexperience in MMA (so far, Mir is 4-0 as a pro fighter competing sporadically since 2022). Regardless, White thinks Mir is so laser-focused that success is all but guaranteed.

“That was the goal, too, in college, not just for her to get an education, but to break some college records,†White said. “This girl would go to school and she was wrestling, and then she'd go home on vacation, Thanksgiving, Christmas, and shit, and she would enter these jiu-jitsu competitions and win them while she was only wrestling, not only doing jiu-jitsu. So she's special.â€

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MMA

UFC fighter recalls training with Conor McGregor at 17

Published

3 hours ago

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November 4, 2026

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UFC fighter recalls training with Conor McGregor at 17
Jean-Paul
Lebosnoyani trained with Conor
McGregor when he was in high school.

Lebosnoyani said he was just 17 when he had the chance to train
with the
Ultimate Fighting Championship star ahead of McGregor's first
fight against Nate Diaz in
2016. Lebosnoyani had just finished a large Mongolian barbecue meal
when his father called to tell him McGregor needed a training
partner at the gym. “American Bandit†trained with McGregor for
about two weeks.

How Jean-Paul Lebosnoyani first met Conor McGregor

Lebosnoyani praised McGregor's humility and said the former
two-division champion has sent him messages throughout his career.
Despite the controversies surrounding McGregor, Lebosnoyani said he
will always respect the Irishman.

“I had just eaten the most I’ve ever eaten in my life. As soon as I
finished my meal, my dad calls me,†Lebosnoyani told Ariel Helwani.
“He goes, ‘Conor’s at the gym. He needs you to train right now.' I
was like, ‘Oh my God, I’m gonna barf all over this guy.' We did a
bunch of jiu-jitsu rounds and trained for about two weeks before he
met Dillon
Danis. That was the highlight of my high school childhood.
Shout out to Conor. He’s messaged me throughout my career. When I
got signed to the UFC, he wrote me a nice message saying
congratulations. When I met Conor, he was the most humble,
down-to-earth guy. Obviously, there’s a lot of controversy with
him, but I will always respect him. He has a special place in my
heart. At that point, he was at the pinnacle of his career, and it
was extremely inspirational how humble he was to someone like me.
He would pull up to the gym in two Rolls-Royces, and the second he
stepped on the mat, that whole persona, the whole ego, was just
gone.”

Lebosnoyani (12-2) earned his UFC contract on
Dana White's Contender Series last year. He has won all three
of his UFC fights, earning his first stoppage victory in the
promotion against Farman
Hasanov at
UFC Vegas 123 on Oct. 31.


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Arman Tsarukyan sets one condition for fighting Alexander Volkanovski

Published

21 hours ago

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November 3, 2026

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Arman Tsarukyan sets one condition for fighting Alexander Volkanovski
Arman
Tsarukyan is open to fighting Alexander
Volkanovski, provided
Ultimate Fighting Championship gold is at stake.

Volkanovski (29-4) defended the featherweight title with a
technical knockout victory over Movsar
Evloev at
UFC 333 in Abu Dhabi before expressing interest in returning to
lightweight. With champion Justin
Gaethje uncertain about his future, Volkanovski offered to face
Tsarukyan (24-3) for the vacant title if Gaethje retires.

Arman Tsarukyan reminds Alexander Volkanovski how Islam
Makhachev rematch ended

Tsarukyan said the championship matters more to him than the
opponent.

“I'm ready for everyone,†Tsarukyan told Yavuz Saynomo. “For me, it
doesn't matter who I'm gonna fight; I just want to fight for the
title.â€

Volkanovski has expressed confidence that he can counter
Tsarukyan's wrestling and avoid being held down. Tsarukyan
responded by recalling the Australian's knockout loss to Islam
Makhachev.

“He said Islam Makhachev cannot knock him out, too,†Tsarukyan
added.

Volkanovski has twice challenged Makhachev for the lightweight
championship. He lost their first meeting by unanimous decision
before Makhachev finished their rematch with a head kick and
follow-up punches.

Tsarukyan remains confident that his next bout will be for the
title. If Gaethje retires, “The Batman†expects to compete for the
vacant belt.

“I have a title fight next,†Tsarukyan reiterated. “Either Justin
Gaethje. If he is retired, someone else.â€

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MMA

Dan Hooker blames Charles Oliveira, UFC for tarnishing ‘BMF’ title: ‘He killed it’

Published

22 hours ago

on

November 3, 2026

By

Dan Hooker blames Charles Oliveira, UFC for tarnishing ‘BMF’ title: ‘He killed it’

Dan Hooker would like to see the whole ‘BMF' championship put to rest for now.

The symbolic title is up for grabs again on Dec. 12 at UFC 335, when champion Charles Oliveira faces Diego Lopes in the main event. Oliveira won the belt with a dominant decision win over Max Holloway at UFC 326, but received criticism for his grappling-heavy performance, which was considered to be against the spirit of the BMF belt.

Hooker agrees that Oliveira, and his newly won title, lost some luster that night.

“It was cool for a bit and then he kind of made it not cool,†Hooker told Submission Radio. “I think he killed it.â€

The BMF championship was innovated by former UFC star Nate Diaz, who cut a fiery promo after a win at UFC 241 that led to he and Jorge Masvidal fighting to become the inaugural titleholder at UFC 244, where Masvidal defeated Diaz. Justin Gaethje later defeated Dustin Poirier for a vacant title, with Holloway subsequently claiming the belt with an all-time great performance at UFC 300.

Hooker believes the promotion has strayed far from the original purpose of the title.

“You know where they f*cked it up?†Hooker said. “They should have kept it like Nate Diaz, Masvidal kind of shit. They completely f*cked it when they were like – They had badass motherf*ckers fighting for it like that, but then it should be the guys that want to throw down and just talk shit as well. That was kind of like me, Bobby Green, could lose 20 times and he's still a BMF contender. Then they had Max do it, and he's like the nicest guy in the f*cking world.

“Talk shit. Say you're going to knock the other guy's head off, that was like our belt. That was the guys whose careers are a f*cking mess. ‘Gamebred' was hot and cold for a minute, Nate Diaz, all our records are a f*cking mess. It's going to be a lot harder for us to get our hands on the nice, shiny, clean one. That's what I'm saying, they let too many nice guys have a crack.â€

That said, Hooker looks forward to the Oliveira vs. Lopes matchup, even if the BMF belt's involvement feels perfunctory. Hooker fights Brian Ortega at UFC Qatar on Nov. 21, and if both he and Lopes are victorious, he sees a scenario where he challenges Lopes for the title next.

“For some reason, they're adamant on this BMF belt sticking around and just having another belt to put up for grabs, but yeah, I like that fight,†Hooker said. “I feel like Diego Lopes is a strong contender for that. As he says, he doesn't feel like he's going to get another crack at Volk. He doesn't feel like it's just around the corner, so I like the fight, definitely.â€

“That's why I wanted this fight [vs. Ortega],†Hooker continued. “I feel like I can beat Brian Ortega, but now, Diego Lopes beating Charles Oliveira, I feel like that's a much bigger ask. But yeah, I like that fight, for sure.â€

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