Bryce Mitchell returned from a more than nine-month layoff to outwork Dan Ige for a unanimous decision in a solid bounce-back performance after his undefeated record was taken away by Ilia Topuria in December.
It was an essential win for Mitchell (16-1 MMA, 7-1 UFC) after having all his momentum dashed away, but the story of the night wasn’t what he did in the octagon during the 15-minute fight. It was what happened before the contest began, then after he was announced the victor, that had everyone talking.
I am by no means trying to ridicule a fighter for their religion or beliefs. If Mitchell wants to hold the Bible high above his head and scream “FREEDOM” while Joe Martinez introduces him, then more power to the guy. His life is clearly buoyed by his faith, and he is not afraid to display that for the world to see, or to speak passionately about it. That’s totally fine.
Where things get dicey is in the aftermath of the fight, when Mitchell starts speaking about the devil’s influence on the world and parroting outlandish conspiracy theories about the Hawaii wildfires while essentially forcing Hawaii native Ige to stand by his side and listen to it all. Mitchell said he would donate $5,000 for Ige to help support those harmed by the wildfires, which in a vacuum, is a nice gesture.
In the overall scheme of what Mitchell delivered in his post-fight interview, though, it doesn’t overshadow the many highly suspect things that came out of his mouth. Thankfully, Michael Bisping was the in-cage interviewer and prevented the scene from going too far off the deep end, but this is the Bryce Mitchell experience. Put a camera in his face or a microphone in his hand, and live with the consequences of what’s to follow.
The UFC isn’t ignorant of what it has in Mitchell. He’s going to say some wild stuff with some potentially dangerous messaging behind it. But given this is an organization where free speech is encouraged and the punishments are few and far between when people actually do cross the line, it just rolls off the back of the viewers and we move on to the next thing.