Alex Apodaca Reacts To Stunning Victory Over Bella Mir, Historic Upset Win

Alex Apodaca was supposed to be the stepping stone for Bella Mir ... but the massive underdog had different plans -- like winning!

The UFC had been building the 23-year-old up for years, and that's why, with her skills and pedigree, the daughter of the legend Frank Mir was around a -6000 favorite against Apodaca, then-3-1, on Dana White's Contender Series.

So, yeah, a tune-up on paper ... but that's not where the fight's fought.

“I didn’t find the actual [odds] out before the fight, but I knew what was happening,” Apodaca told Babcock on Monday. “I’m just like the sacrificial lamb being thrown in is kind of the thought that people are thinking, which I was like, that’s insane. Nothing points to the fact that I’m just going to go out there and just like get smashed.”

Not that there wasn't any doubt, 'cause there was, Alex admits.

“Every once in a while I’d be like, I’m going to win. I’m going to win. But then I’d look at my coach and be like, 'You think she’s really that good?' Like, dude, what is happening?”

But, win she did ... by unanimous decision.

If you expected Alex to trash Bella in the wake of the huge upset, she won't.

"I will say she’s good. I don’t want to discredit her or me by saying she’s not. I definitely thought this would be so insane if I pulled this off. But I did want to do it. I did want to pull it off.”

Mission accomplished.

With the victory, AA says she was nearly brought to tears ... and then came the coveted UFC contract.

"It's literally dreams. Like when I was sitting in that cage and like on those chairs and, and I'm like alone in the cage and all these lights are on me, I felt like I was trying not to cry. You know what I mean? I was like, this is like so overwhelming. I just couldn't even believe it, that it was happening."