UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell suffered the first loss of his mixed martial arts career against Ilia Topuria this past weekend at UFC 282.
Topuria was able to control the fight on the feet and the ground for the majority of the fight. He was able to secure an arm-triangle choke on Mitchell that forced him to tap in the second round.
The 28-year-old posted a video on Twitter reacting to the loss along with a message to his fans.
“Hey I just want to let y’all know that I’m feeling just fine. I’m (back) home and I just want to thank y’all for all the love and support. And I definitely got to let you know that it really wasn’t me out there. You know, I had the flu the week before and you know I thought I’d just tough it out. And I didn’t feel good at all in there. I wasn’t myself and I trained a lot harder and could have performed a lot better.”
”You know I wish I never ever took the fight. But I didn’t know it would mess me up that bad, so I thought I’d be able to hang in there for all three rounds.” [h/t BJPenn.com]
Bryce Mitchell Still Has An Impressive Resume
Mitchell was 15-0 heading into UFC 282. Since making his UFC debut in 2018, he has earned “Performance of the Night” and “Fight of the Night” honors. He was also the recipient of UFC’s “Submission of the Year” with a rare twister against Matt Sayles in 2019. It was the second twister in UFC history.
“Thug Nasty” has a unique personality. He raps when he’s not fighting and shares unique conspiracy theories. The Arkansas native also wears personalized camouflage shorts in the octagon.
Mitchell will be looking to bounce back from his lone defeat in 2023.