Bryce
Mitchell believes mixed martial arts bouts should be more like
street fights.
Mitchell has weighed in on the current ruleset amid recent
discourse about banning sidekicks to the knee, also known as
oblique kicks, in MMA. The
Ultimate Fighting Championship bantamweight strongly opposes
banning oblique kicks, which he considers one of his best
weapons.
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Why Bryce Mitchell opposes an oblique kick ban and supports
face stomps
While oblique kicks can cause serious knee injuries, Mitchell notes
that MMA is a brutal sport. If a rule change is needed, “Thug
Nasty” believes stomps to the face of a grounded opponent should be
legalized, like in the
Pride era.
“They’re talking about taking away the oblique kick, which is
really, really stupid,” Mitchell said on Instagram. “It’s a
completely fair kick; anybody can do it. Yeah, you get your knees
hurt. But guess what? It’s a fight… Who cares if you get kicked in
your knee? It’s a fight. I think if they should be making one rule
change, it should be the addition of the stomp. There’s not a more
effective move than the stomp; there never has been, there never
will be… I would have a lot more finishes if I could stomp a
grounded opponent on their face. That’s actually my best move. So
every time you see me fight, I don’t even get to use my best move…
They’re trying to take another one of my moves away—the knee kick.
Man, y’all need to toughen up.”
Mitchell also suggests removing rounds and banning weight cuts.
“All the rules favor the boxers who are scared of takedowns and
kicks,” Mitchell wrote in the caption of his Instagram post. “These
new proposed rule changes are bullsh*t. Let us fight, and if you
wanna make changes, take rounds and weight cuts out so we can
really get down and see who’s best”