Bryce Mitchell is fresh off a win in the bantamweight division, but one top UFC personality believes it’ll be a tough road ahead.
Mitchell shared the Octagon with Said Nurmagomedov on the UFC Abu Dhabi card this past Saturday. “Thug Nasty” had his bell rung early and was knocked down, but he weathered the storm. Mitchell ended up scoring a unanimous decision victory, which was a bounce back for him as he was submitted by Jean Silva in his previous outing.
While Mitchell pulled off the win at 135 pounds, MMA coach and UFC analyst Din Thomas isn’t so sure the success will last. Speaking to MMAJunkie.com, Thomas said the competition doesn’t get easier simply due to a change in weight class.
“The reality is this. These guys drop weight looking for sort of a magic pill or the answer,” Thomas said. “The reality is if you can’t win in the top five of your division, you’re probably not going to win in the top five of the division under you, either. It’s not necessarily a size thing for you holding you back. It’s really kind of a skill thing.
“Once he gets up against those top guys in the division at bantamweight, he’s still going to struggle. It doesn’t matter. … It might allow him to beat the guys at bantamweight a little bit easier. The guys he would already going to beat, he’s going to beat them a bit easier. But he’s still going to struggle with the top guys.”
Bryce Mitchell has gone 3-3 in his last six outings. He was unbeaten before running into Ilia Topuria, who is the current UFC Lightweight Champion. Mitchell earned a decision win over Dan Ige before suffering a brutal knockout loss at the hands of Josh Emmett. Mitchell rebounded again with a knockout win over Kron Gracie before the aforementioned defeat to Silva.
