Dana White has made no secret of the fact that he’s been personally helping to oversee highly touted prospect Bella Mir’s career, and so her huge upset loss to Alex Apodaca in her Contender Series debut last night was a bitter pill to swallow.

“I was extremely biased coming into tonight. I’ve been close to her for over four years,” White acknowledged at the post-fight press conference after the show. “Four years ago, she came to me and wanted to sort of map out her future. I’m the one that talked her into going to college, you know, and waiting, you know, getting a wrestling background in college, do some great things there, and then come here and, you know …”

The 23-year-old Mir, who is the daughter of retired UFC star Frank Mir and held a 4-0 record prior to last night, had come into the event as a massive -6000 favorite, making her unanimous decision loss one of the biggest upsets in the history of the show.

However, White isn’t writing off Mir, and instead believes that this was an important learning experience at this early stage in her career.

“Like I said out there, [Michael] Bisping absolutely nailed it and said, ‘The difference in this fight is deep water. Bella’s never been there and Alex has,” White stated.

“Like Bisping said, she didn’t have deep water experience and now she does. She didn’t fold. She didn’t get stopped. She didn’t quit. This is all part of the game.”