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

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3 weeks 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

Justin Gaethje wants Conor McGregor next: ‘Fun to shut him up’

Published

8 minutes ago

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September 3, 2026

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Justin Gaethje wants Conor McGregor next: ‘Fun to shut him up’
Justin
Gaethje has revealed that a showdown with Conor
McGregor is his top choice for his next bout.

Gaethje, who won the
Ultimate Fighting Championship lightweight title by beating
Ilia
Topuria at
UFC Freedom 250, prefers the McGregor matchup over getting
revenge against Max
Holloway and Charles
Oliveira.

Justin Gaethje favors Conor McGregor over rematches with Max
Holloway and Charles Oliveira

In a recent interview, Gaethje explained why he has little interest
in revisiting fights with Holloway and Oliveira, who previously
finished him in title bouts. Holloway scored a buzzer-beater KO
against Gaethje at UFC
300 to win the BMF title, while Oliveira submitted him in his
second attempt at undisputed lightweight gold.

Nevertheless, with Topuria finishing both “Blessed†and “do
Bronxs,†Gaethje isn't interested in rematches. Rather, he's eyeing
a bout with former two-division champ McGregor.

“Damn, there's really no one,†Gaethje said. “It would have been
Oliveira or Holloway, but since Topuria beat them, I'm going to go
ahead and justify it to myself like I got them back. So, I guess
McGregor. Fun to shut him up.â€

McGregor returned to the Octagon following a five-year hiatus to
face Holloway at
UFC 329, but the fight ended in little over a minute as the
Irishman suffered a knee injury, prompting an anticlimactic referee
stoppage. With one fight left on his current contract, he's
targeting his final UFC bout for the summer of 2027.

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MMA

Eddie Hearn draws Dana White line in Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua talks

Published

1 hour ago

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September 3, 2026

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Eddie Hearn draws Dana White line in Tyson Fury-Anthony Joshua talks
Eddie Hearn is standing firm amid the ongoing Tyson
Fury-Anthony
Joshua saga.

Hearn has pushed back after Dana
White recently addressed the ongoing discourse surrounding the
heavyweight matchup. The head of Matchroom Boxing discussed the
involvement of the
Ultimate Fighting Championship CEO and Zuffa Boxing in putting
together the fight and clarified Joshua's stance on the same.

Anthony Joshua’s stance on Dana White and Zuffa Boxing
complicates Tyson Fury fight talks

Hearn was asked about the highly anticipated Fury-Joshua bout after
the Katie Taylor vs. Flora Pili press conference in Dublin,
Ireland, and reiterated that, as per Joshua's contract, there's no
need for Zuffa to get involved.

“No, or else there will be no fight and we'll just keep going,â€
Hearn said at a media scrum captured by Bloody Elbow. “You have to
understand, right? AJ is one of my closest friends; AJ is a
shareholder of Matchroom. So, I know the narrative run by Tyson
Fury is, ‘Oh, Eddie's ego…' No, no, no. We are a team, and AJ will
say to me, ‘Why are they involved?' I said, ‘Exactly, so are you OK
with them not being involved?' He says, ‘Yeah.'â€

Hearn also insists that the exclusion of White and TKO is not
simply his personal preference.

“So, the responses in the addendum are not ‘Eddie Hearn's wishes';
they're Anthony Joshua's wishes,†Hearn added. “The addendum
doesn't have to include ‘still no Dana' because that is in the
original contract. The addendum is just changes.â€

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MMA

Salahdine Parnasse sees ‘perfect fight’ in UFC debut against Dan Hooker

Published

2 hours ago

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September 3, 2026

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Salahdine Parnasse sees ‘perfect fight’ in UFC debut against Dan Hooker
Salahdine
Parnasse believes Dan Hooker is
the “perfect†matchup for his
Ultimate Fighting Championship debut.

Parnasse will make his Octagon debut against Hooker in the
UFC Paris main event on Sept. 5. The former two-division

KSW champion claims the UFC veteran is the ideal opponent to
showcase his skills against.

Salahdine Parnasse expects his aggressive style to mesh with
Dan Hooker at UFC Paris

Parnasse (23-2) enters the UFC with a ton of hype. While he sees
his upcoming opponent as a “big challenge,†given Hooker's 12-year
run in the UFC, the French fighter likes the stylistic matchup,
especially considering his Kiwi counterpart's aggressive fighting
style.

“Dan Hooker is very strong, very experienced,†Parnasse said at UFC
Paris media day. “That’s why he is at the top of the UFC and I
think he is a big challenge and I love this challenge. I think he
is a very explosive guy who likes to do a lot in his fights. And I
think that with me, it’s a perfect fight because we are both two
guys who like to go out there and put on a great show in the
cage.â€

Parnasse enters the bout riding a five-fight winning streak, with
his last win coming on
Most Valuable Promotions' inaugural mixed martial arts event.
Meanwhile, Hooker is looking to rebound from consecutive losses to
top-ranked lightweights Benoit St.
Denis and Arman
Tsarukyan.

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