Iowa Hawkeye Bella Mir will compete in an MMA bout at UFL 3 (United Fight League) on Saturday, August 12 in Phoenix, Arizona. Mir is a freshman for the University of Iowa Women’s Wrestling team and has a 3-0 career record in MMA.
Bella will be on the same card as her dad Frank Mir for UFL 3 that has been called his retirement fight. Frank was a two-time UFC Hwt champion and competed in the UFC for sixteen years.
From bjpenn.com:
“One of my ambitions I have said, and I would really like to stick to it, is I would like to fight on the same card as my daughter,” Mir said. “That would be a great father-daughter experience and how many people can say they’ve done that in their career? Compete as an athlete on the same playing field as their child. It would be a moment of passing the torch of the ending of my career and the starting of her career. I would have to make it an MMA fight to make that happen.”
Bella recently won the 68 KG title at the U20 Women’s Nationals in Spokane, Washington. Mir won by a tech fall, pin, and two decisions to make the finals. In the best of three finals she had two first period pins to claim the title.
Mir will now represent Team USA at the 2023 U20 World Freestyle Championships in Warsaw, Poland.
Bella is registered to compete at the U.S. Senior Women’s Open in Las Vegas this weekend.
Last January Bella became the first ever NIL ambassador for the UFC. On December 15, 2022 it was announced that the UFC had become a sponsor of the University of Iowa Men’s and Women’s Wrestling team.
Mir is a true freshman out of Las Vegas, Nevada where she was a four-time state champion for Centennial High School.
The University of Iowa is the first Power 5 conference women’s wrestling program and will have their first year of official competition next season.
It is great to be an Iowa Wrestling fan.
Go Hawks!
