Patchy Mix doesn’t think too highly of his next opponent.
After making a name for himself under the Bellator MMA banner, capturing the promotion’s interim and undisputed bantamweight world titles, the Angola, New York native will make his long-awaited debut inside the Octagon this Saturday night at UFC 316.
There, Mix will meet streaking standout Mario Bautista as part of a stacked main card headlined by not one, but two UFC title tilts.
Before being signed by the UFC, Mix was heralded by many as the best bantamweight on the planet. Now he’ll have the chance to prove it, though ‘No Love’ seems to have absolutely no love for the man who will be standing across from him.
“I will f*ck him up,” Mix said of Bautista during a recent episode of UFC 316: Embedded. “I’m a three-time world champion. This guy’s a journeyman fighter. I’ll submit him. And whoever’s teaching him Jiu-Jitsu, I’ll submit the whole crew.”
While Bautista goes into the bout riding a solid seven-fight win streak, he’s seen significant criticism lobbed his way. Particularly, after a sketchy split decision victory over featherweight great Jose Aldo in October. Before that, he earned back-to-back unanimous decisions over Da’Mon Blackshear and Ricky Simón. You’d have to go all the way back to March 2023 to find Bautista’s last finish inside the Octagon, which came against Guido Cannetti.
Patchy Mix Confident he can duplicate his Bellator run inside the Octagon
Mix quickly rose through the ranks in Bellator, winning the promotion’s Bantamweight World Grand Prix tournament in 2023. Seven months later, he became the division’s undisputed king.
With an impressive 20-1 record and a 70% finish rate, Mix is understandably brimming with confidence ahead of his big premiere on MMA’s biggest stage, and he plans on adding UFC gold to his collection of accomplishments before too long.
“Two years ago, that was our first world title. I knocked a dude out in a minute, and I’m a submission guy,” Mix said. “It was my first knockout, it’s how I won a million dollars and my world title. Since then, we have won two more belts, and now we are over here and we are coming for this belt. We really want to win that UFC strap.”
