Bella Mir is the daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank Mir, but outside of her father, one of Bella’s biggest inspirations is former UFC women’s bantamweight champion Ronda Rousey.
Mir says that watching Rousey dominate foes in the Octagon is what inspired her to become an MMA fighter.
“I officially knew I wanted to do it when I saw Ronda [Rousey] fighting and I saw her dominating in the sport,” Mir said to MMA Fighting. “That just kind of motivated me. If I see another girl do it, I have to do it and I want to do it better.”
The 17-year-old makes her professional MMA debut tomorrow night at iKON 2, facing Danielle Wynn in a bantamweight division bout. Frank also knew Bella would become an MMA fighter after Rousey broke barriers and helped women get into the UFC.
“Fighting lends itself to a unique situation where women can be on the same stage or even greater than their male counterparts,” Frank said. “There’s not a lot of other sports like that. Even [in] basketball, the female side is overshadowed by the male side. I get it but I think for a young woman that wants to be an athlete, who wants to compete, that can be very frustrating. So when she saw Ronda at a young age and I always told her girl fighting was never going to be in the UFC. That’s what I thought 15 years ago. Once Ronda broke those barriers and crossed over, I was like this is going to happen.”
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