Ahead of his high-profile assignment at
UFC 296, Bryce
Mitchell is still haunted by his lone career loss.
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Mitchell (16-1), who takes on longtime featherweight contender
Josh
Emmett in the top prelim bout this Saturday in Las Vegas,
suffered his first and thus far only professional defeat just over
a year ago, when he faced Ilia
Topuria at UFC 282. The Georgian by way of Spain dominated
Mitchell on the way to a second-round submission win. “Thug Nasty”
not only believes he could have put on a better showing but that it
was the worst performance of his career.
“I want that one all day, because that was my worst performance of
all time,” the 29-year-old recently told Michael
Bisping.. “Even my backyard fights, I’ve never had a fight that
bad. I’ve never fought that bad, I’ve never folded like that, I’ve
never been able to not breathe and not move like that and, man, it
just makes me mad. I know I could do better, but I don’t think
people realize how much better I could do than that.”
In the immediate aftermath of his loss to Topuria, Mitchell said he
was sick with the flu, a statement which was widely labeled an
excuse. Asked about the reaction to his comments, Mitchell
said:
“It gives me that fuel, and I feel like I’ve been living a
righteous life, and I’ve been working, and I deserve to perform
better than I did that night. I feel I’m going to get to vindicate
myself.”
Topuria is scheduled to challenge Alexander
Volkanovski for the title at UFC 298 on Feb. 17. Meanwhile,
Mitchell bounced back from his loss with a decision win over
Dan Ige
in September. Mitchell has now stepped up on 10 days’ notice to
take on Emmett at UFC 296, replacing Giga
Chikadze, who withdrew due to an injury.
UFC 296 will feature two title fights with Colby
Covington taking on reigning champion Leon
Edwards for the welterweight title while flyweight champion
Alexandre
Pantoja faces former foe Brandon
Royval in the co-main event.