Bryce Mitchell was nearly the first man in the UFC to have pulled off two twister submissions. Nearly.
At UFC 249, Mitchell (13-0) put on a dominant showing against Charles Rosa. Mitchell’s ground game was relentless. This, after Rosa had talked a little trash ahead of the bout.
Not that “Thug Nasty” seemed to mind. On a virtual post-fight press scrum after the fight, Mitchell told media outlets including Cageside Press that he likes it when his opponents talk trash. “Then I don’t feel bad about hurting them.”
It was the repeated submission attempts, especially the twisters, that really turned heads however. Mitchell told Cageside Press that after his Submission of the Year twister at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington, D.C. last December, he just really wanted to become the first UFC fighter to finish with the method twice.
“I wanted to be the first guy to land two,” he said, pointing to Rosa’s toughness as the reason he came up short. “I thought I was going to break his neck, man. I think that neck surgery he had, I think he got an extra vertebrae in there now, because his neck just didn’t break. I just don’t know why or how he didn’t tap. But you’ve got to give it to the guy, there’s no denying the guy’s tough. I swear to god, if there wasn’t rounds, we’d still be fighting right now.”
Still undefeated, the Ultimate Fighter alum isn’t sure what comes next. He’s leaving that up to his manager, and not making any callouts. “I’ve never really picked my fights or called out nobody. I really don’t care to. I like when people call me out.”
Aside from the win on Saturday, Mitchell did get another piece of good news: he’s finally getting his much-sought after camo fight shorts. And the Arkansas native feels his persistence, and pestering, was the key.
“Dana White said that he’s going to get me some camo sorts. I think they just got tired of me talking sh*t, and they figured I’m not going to shut up,” said Mitchell. “Just give me my camo shorts, and I’ll shut up!”
Watch the full UFC 249 virtual media scrum with Bruce Mitchell above!
