Apodaca stuns Bella Mir with unanimous decision to earn UFC contract as history's biggest Contender Series underdog

Alex Apodaca outworked Bella Mir across all three rounds at Contender Series Week 3 on Tuesday night, winning a unanimous decision to earn a UFC contract and deliver what many are calling one of the biggest upsets in MMA history. Apodaca entered the bantamweight main event as the heaviest underdog in the show’s history, widely expected to serve as a stepping stone for the high-profile Mir.

“This shit’s crazy,” Apodaca said at her post-fight press conference. “I was totally alarmed by the whole thing. I was kind of expecting it, but you know, the actual reality of it has hit, so it kind of feels like a fever dream. It’s sick. I think it’s so cool that I pulled it off. It’s hard to believe sometimes.”

The win was no fluke. The 32-year-old neutralised Mir’s celebrated grappling game and steadily built up damage on the feet. Apodaca says she sensed the shift as early as the end of the first round. “Once I felt her, once I touched her and felt her, I was like, alright, we’ve got this shit in the bag,” she said. “At the end of the first round, when I ended up on top, I knew it then. I could also tell she hadn’t been in the second and third round much, and that’s where I live, so I was fine with it.”

Apodaca also suggested Mir may have underestimated her heading into the bout. “I do think she got a little caught up in her head,” Apodaca said. “I don’t think she was expecting it to be a war like that. I saw it when she walked out. I looked at her face and was like, ‘Oh, she thinks she just has this. For sure.’”

Despite holding only five professional MMA bouts, Apodaca has an extensive amateur background and arrived at Contender Series acutely aware that her path to the top needed to be fast. “I am 32, and I knew that taking this fight, it was like an escalated path, and I was ready for that,” she said. “In a year, that’s where I want to be, fighting top 10.”

The victory drew praise from UFC CEO Dana White, and Apodaca made clear she intends to make the most of the platform her upset has now given her.