Las Vegas, NV — Bryce Mitchell passed what was quite frankly the toughest test of his career Saturday at UFC Vegas 12. Against featherweight staple Andre Fili, Mitchell got a grueling fight with an opponent capable of exploding back up when taken down. And who had a clear edge on the feet.
Mitchell (14-0), however, set a personal best for takedowns, and managed to take home a hard-fought unanimous decision win. Now 5-0 inside the octagon, after joining the promotion via The Ultimate Fighter, Mitchell is in a good spot. Even if he was a bit down on his performance.
“I could have done better in certain positions. He flying knee’d me, I didn’t want that to happen,” Mitchell told media outlets including Cageside Press following the fight. “I broke my hand in the first round, and kept swinging with it. I was like ‘the hell with it, I’m gonna keep throwing it.’ I knew something was wrong with my hand. I just envisioned myself doing better.”
Mitchell believes he broke the hand “on an overhand left,” he said. And as a result of the injury “I’m going to have to take a little while off,” he said. “I ain’t got no choice. So you won’t see me in here for a little while. But I’m going to heal up the best I can, and come back as strong as I can.”
Asked to evaluate his growth in 2020, a year that saw him pick up two wins inside the octagon, Mitchell replied “I keep getting better ever fight, and every fight, there’s something else that I feel like I did wrong, and I want to fix it. And I’m just going to keep trying to improve myself as much as I can, and heal my body right now. Because I’ve got some healing to do.”
Watch the full UFC Vegas 12 post-fight press conference with Bryce Mitchell above.
