Thank y’all for the luv! pic.twitter.com/SCIJZSOK2I
— Bryce Mitchell (@ThugnastyMMA)
December 12, 2022
The featherweight matchup pitting Ilia
Topuria against Bryce
Mitchell that opened the
UFC 282 pay-per-view was billed as a clash between two of the
top young contenders in the division.
Advertisement
It turned out to be one-way traffic for Topuria, as “The Spaniard”
battered his opponent on the feet and denied all but one of his
takedowns before submitting Mitchell with an arm-triangle choke
3:10 into Round 2. Mitchell’s attempts at grappling were
ineffective and he was outgunned on the feet in suffering his first
setback in 16 professional outings.
According to “Thug Nasty,” there were more factors at play at the
T-Mobile Arena on Saturday night.
“I definitely got to let you know that definitely wasn’t me out
there,” Mitchell said in a video on Twitter. “I had the flu the
week before, and I thought I’d just tough it out. I didn’t feel
good at all in there. That wasn’t myself. I trained a lot harder
and could’ve performed a lot better, but I went in there with stuff
hurting, not up to 100 percent. Like I said, I had the flu.
“I wish I wouldn’t even took the fight, but I didn’t know it would
mess me up that bad. I thought I would be able to hang in there for
all three rounds, because that’s what I trained for. I trained for
my cardio to be there the whole time. It wasn’t even there one bit
of the time.”
“The Ultimate Fighter” Season 27 semifinalist is now 6-1 in UFC
competition, with victories over the likes of Edson
Barboza and Andre Fili to
his credit.