Bella Mir confirms plans to conquer multiple sports with Dana White’s full support: ‘I want to be legendary’

Bella Mir is no stranger to having a massive spotlight on her no matter what she’s doing.

The daughter of multi-time UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, the now 23-year-old wrestling phenom was the first athlete that the UFC signed to a NIL deal in college and now she’s just a day away from competing in the main event for The Contender Series. Just one month later, Mir is scheduled to face 2024 Olympic silver medalist Kennedy Blades for a chance to represent the United States at the World Wrestling Championships in Kazakhstan later this year.

This all comes just a few months after Mir became an NCAA champion, claiming the 145-pound title in her final opportunity as a senior at North Central college. That’s a lot of activity in a very short period of time but Mir wouldn’t have it any other way, especially with UFC CEO Dana White recently revealing that she eventually plans to become UFC champion, UFC BJJ champion, Zuffa Boxing champion and Olympic gold medalist.

“I just tell everyone why not?” Mir told MMA Fighting. “I feel like that’s my two words when going through adversity or anything that’s going on. Like why not me? If I’m already at a high level of wrestling and jiu-jitsu and about to be MMA right now, why not keep taking up steps until we’re the best in the world? I don’t want to just go for world titles. I want to go for a legacy. I want to be legendary. I want to shoot for the highest I can get. I just want to be in that talks of best athletes of all time.

“I don’t even want to be the best MMA fighter, or the best combat athlete. I want to be the best athlete of all time. I just want to hit the highest of goals that you can hit and I just stay focused and I just always reminding myself of those dreams of mine.”

While plenty of athletes have eventually transitioned into MMA, no one has managed to compete in the UFC and simultaneously pursue championships across other sports. Henry Cejudo won an Olympic gold medal in 2008 but it was after he failed to make the U.S. team in 2012 that he decided to turn his full attention towards MMA.

Bo Nickal came up short in his bid to make an Olympic team back in 2020 and that’s when he decided to set wrestling aside as he also pursued a career in MMA. Olympic gold medalist Gable Steveson has teased his interest in returning to compete in the 2028 games headed to Los Angeles but now that he’s deeply entrenched in his UFC career, it’s tough to say if he’ll actually take a stab at that in a few years.

But Mir isn’t hiding her intentions as far as joining the UFC roster while still actively competing in wrestling, especially with the 2028 Olympics drawing near. Add to that, Mir says she has full support from White and the UFC to go after that gold medal even if it means putting her fighting career on hold for a little while.

“That was definitely a conversation I had with [Dana White] before going on Contenders,” Mir explained. “Because this is a long time. Who in the wrestling community has wrestled and didn’t think about wanting to go to the Olympics? That’s every wrestler’s dream. So there’s nothing special about having a dream like that but I asked him, too, I want to try to shoot for 2028. Is that going to be an issue? He’s like ‘no, I think it’s so sick that you’re trying to do it all.’

“He’s so supportive of me and when the time comes plan it out where I can have a fight right before I start that training camp for the Olympics. So I’m not gone for too long.”

Truth be told, Mir wasn’t exactly rushing to start her UFC career this quickly but she struggled to find fights and opponents so it almost became a necessity to graduate to a new level where opponents can’t constantly turn her down.

“I just got back from college and I had my meeting with Dana and I was telling him it’s really hard to get me fights under UFC Fight Pass or these smaller shows,” Mir explained. “There was a year where I couldn’t even fight anyone because everyone said no. I went through like 20 people. I was just telling him I just want to put myself out there the same kind of way that you go to the U.S. Open and you wrestle the best people in the country. That’s what I want to be doing with MMA.

“He was like ‘do you want to do Contender?’ And I was like yeah, it’s probably the right move. So we just got right to it.”

Technically, Mir could win her Contender Series fight on Tuesday and the UFC could opt to ink her to a developmental deal or even book her on the show again later in the season (Bo Nickal did the same thing when he fought there). But ideally, Mir would win and the UFC would just sign her to a contract because she’s not wasting anymore time when it comes to stacking accolades on her resume.

“I want to stay busy,” Mir said. “I really do want to have my first fight in the UFC the end of this year. December would be awesome or November. One of those last cards. That is my goal but obviously they are so busy and they’re always trying to get people on cards.

“If it happens to be next year, it is, but I just want to make sure that they know I’m always an option if they choose me to be.”

In the midst of all this, Mir could be competing in the World Wrestling Championships and she’s quietly planning her wedding for some time in 2027. It’s a lot but Mir wouldn’t have it any other way.

“When you have goals like this, there is no I’m going to take a month off or I’m going to go on a vacation or anything,” Mir said. “That stuff is very short for me. I take a couple of days off and my days off aren’t really days off. But I just get right back to it. If I’m two weeks out of something that’s really important, I’m going to hone in on that sport and I’m not going to be training the other ones. But it’s really just for two weeks at a time where I’m not strictly doing wrestling or I’m not strictly doing jiu-jitsu or whatever I’m doing. Even in wrestling season, I’m always training jiu-jitsu and going to boxing gyms and MMA gyms, even in college.

“If I could train all day long, that’s what I’m doing four times a day. Obviously when I have something important coming up like NCAA’s, those two weeks out from NCAA’s, I wasn’t doing anything but wrestling. But I think that’s how I’m able to keep inching up with a high level with all of these sports. I’m never taking breaks and I’m never giving myself time where I’m not training one or other.”