While Patrick Mix
did get the nod from the cageside judges in his Bellator
bantamweight quarterfinal matchup against Kyoji
Horiguchi, he still believes he deserved a little more
generosity on the scorecards than he received.
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“Patchy” defeated Horiguchi via unanimous decision in their
Bellator 279 clash at Neil S. Blaisdell Arena in Honolulu, Hawaii,
on Saturday night, receiving a trio of 48-47 tallies to advance to
the 135-pound semifinals. Mix took the ex-Rizin and Bellator
champion’s back on multiple occasions in the bout, most notably in
a dominant first round in which controlled positioning and
threatened with multiple chokes.
“I’m not in charge of the judges, but I thought I had a 10-8 round
in the first,” Mix said at Saturday’s post-fight press conference.
“I had the back to the entire round, trying to threaten chokes. I
brought him from his feet to his back while I was on his back, bent
him back twice. I had his back I think in the third round. The
second round I tried to feel him out to see where he was on the
feet, see if I could beat him there. I took him down again in the
fifth round, had his back again, almost had him guillotined.
“48-47 wasn’t just. I think it should’ve been [48-46] or 49-46. I
think I had a 10-8 round. I didn’t want to leave it to the judges
though.”
To his credit, Horiguchi was able to survive each time while being
forced to carry the grappling-savvy Mix like a backpack. The New
York native has 11 submission victories to his name, so it was no
small feat for Horiguchi to make it to the final bell.
“I wanted to hurt him. I thought if I touched him on the feet I
could knock him out. Or just take him down and submit him, smash
him. I truly thought I’d be able to submit him, but he had really
good back defense,” Mix said. “The better I get on top and the more
submissions I show, I feel like people are starting to get better
defense. … It’s five rounds and I had to learn how to pace myself.
I wasn’t going to let the same thing that happened as what happened
in my last title fight against Juan [Archuleta].
Mix suffered the lone loss of his 17-fight professional tenure
against Archuleta in a bantamweight title bout at Bellator 246. In
that fight, Mix started strong and then faded over the final three
rounds. That wasn’t the case in another five-round bout against a
fighter with a championship pedigree.
“Kyoji
Horiguchi has only lost for world title fights. This is his
first fight outside of Rizin, Bellator or UFC where he lost where
it wasn’t a world title fight. I’m glad to have that name on my
record,” Mix said.
“It’s just so prestigious to me. I deserve it.….I just beat the
most recent Rizin world champion at bantamweight and a former
Bellator world champion. So I”m happy and I beat him in a world
title setting, five rounds.”
Mix is always active in the gym, but he also plans on spending time
with family and friends as he awaits his next tournament opponent
in the semifinals. Coming off the most significant victory of his
career to date, Mix believes the best is yet to come.
“This is not the best version of me. I’m only getting better,” he
said. “I’m 28 years old and Im gonna stay dedicated until I win
this million dollars, I win this tournament and I win this title.”