Mir suffers shock defeat as Clancy Jr wins UFC contract

Bella Mir has missed out on a UFC contract after suffering one of the biggest shocks in MMA history by losing to Alex Apodaca.

Highly-rated prospect Mir, who is the daughter of former UFC heavyweight champion Frank, went into the contest as an overwhelming favourite but was on the losing end of a unanimous decision.

All three judges on Dana White's Contender Series - a show where winners of fights are often rewarded with UFC contracts - scored the contest 29-28 in American Apodaca's favour.

Mir, 23, has said she wants to win a UFC championship, a Brazilian jiu-jitsu title, a Zuffa Boxing belt and an Olympic wrestling gold medal, but the loss puts a dent in the American's ambitions.

After the fight, UFC president Dana White said the pre-fight betting odds, which had Mir as a massive favourite to win, were misplaced.

"You can't have those kind of underdogs on this show. Anything is possible, and if the Bella Mir fight didn't just prove it - the odds were way out of whack," said White.

"This sport's too crazy to be that big of an underdog."

Apodaca, 32, was rewarded with a UFC contract following victory, while Mir suffered the first defeat of her five-fight professional MMA career.

"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. Maybe she was expecting — I mean what was the odds?

"That's what she was expecting. I saw it when she walked out. I looked at her face when she was walking out and was like, 'Oh, she thinks she just has this. For sure'."

Elsewhere, Scotland's Sean Clancy Jr won a UFC contract after he stopped American Gary Balletto in the second round following a number of unanswered ground strikes.

The 23-year-old, who is the welterweight champion in UK-based promotion Cage Warriors, extended the unbeaten start to his career to nine.

"It's something not a lot of people get to experience back home [signing for the UFC]. Giving people hope in that way is something that genuinely makes me happy. My phone is mental with messages," Clancy Jr said afterwards.