Jennifer Mir apologises to Alex Apodaca after social media backlash over daughter's DWCS upset loss

Jennifer Mir issued a public apology to Alex Apodaca on Thursday, two days after her daughter Bella suffered the biggest upset in Dana White’s Contender Series history, losing a clear-cut decision to Apodaca as a -6000 favourite in the main event.

In the immediate aftermath of Tuesday’s result, Jennifer posted a series of social media comments attacking Apodaca, claiming she had “lucked out,” that the “judges were obviously” in her favour, and making remarks about a black eye Apodaca sustained during the fight. The posts drew swift and widespread condemnation from the MMA community.

In her Thursday statement, Jennifer explained that she had gone onto Bella’s social media after the fight and found comments urging her daughter to take her own life. “I reacted purely as an emotional and protective mother after seeing my daughter go through a hard loss and I let alcohol and adrenaline get the better of me,” she wrote.

She was clear, however, that the circumstances did not justify her words. “That is ZERO excuse,” Jennifer stated. “I want to sincerely apologize to Alex Apodaca, her team, the judges, and the fans. Alex fought a brilliant fight and earned that win fair and square and deserves nothing but respect.”

Jennifer also moved to separate her conduct from her daughter’s, stressing that her comments “do not reflect Bella, her team, or the values she trains by,” and announced she would be stepping back from social media to allow Bella to focus on recovery.

Bella Mir, the daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, had entered the bout as one of the heaviest favourites in Contender Series history. In her own statement following the defeat, she pushed back against the wave of online abuse directed at her, writing that “it takes way more than hate and one single loss in my MMA career to break me.”