Las Vegas — Patchy Mix is officially in the UFC, and that sounds good to him.
“It sounds good, man. It sounds just where I belong. So many years, so many fights as a matter of fact,” Mix (20-1) told media outlets including Cageside Press at the UFC Apex on Saturday. “To finally be here is surreal, but it’s where I belong.”
Rumored for days after the now-former Bellator bantamweight champ parted ways with the PFL, Mix’s arrival in the promotion was officially announced during Saturday’s UFC Vegas 106 broadcast. The 31-year old was supposed to fight Leandro Higo at a Bellator Champions Series card in Paris last November, until the entire event fell through. Now, he’ll debut for the UFC on short notice, facing Mario Bautista at UFC 316 in June.
“Everyone knew what I’d do to Leandro Higo, I just wanted to earn some money and stuff, and stay active and keep getting better, keep growing. When that fight got pulled, I didn’t know when I’d fight,” admitted Mix, who added that he made the trip to Dubai for a grappling match with ONE Championship’s Kairat Akhmetov instead.
“People haven’t see it yet, but I’m not the same fighter I was last May, I’ll tell you that,” promised Mix.
As for how the fight with Bautista came about, it was as simple as picking up the phone. “You got the call and you answer it. I’m not afraid of anyone in this division. Especially Mario Bautista,” stated Mix. “He’s on a seven-fight win streak, and I want that seven-fight win streak. So when they called me, I answered it, I’ll make weight, and I’ll get the job done.”
The opponent, noted Mix, wasn’t a factor in jumping at the opportunity. “It didn’t matter who, I didn’t mind if he was ranked number one or number 50. I would have gone against the best, the hardest, the guy that they didn’t want anyone to fight, it didn’t matter. It happened to be him, and I think Chito Vera popped his rib or something. They called me within an hour or two, I was like ‘hell yeah.’ Within like a day, I think it was getting made.”
Still, for a year now, Patchy Mix has been on the shelf, healthy and willing to fight, but unable to for reasons outside his control. The PFL has struggled to find fights for a number of Bellator stars since acquiring the organization, and Mix is one of several who have now jumped ship to the UFC, including Michael Page, Patricio Pitbull and Aaron Pico. Mix, like others, was forced to take to social media to express the frustration with sitting out.
“It’s been frustrating man to be honest with you. I’m not even going to lie. A lot of, I don’t know man, I’ve been bitching a lot at home probably to be honest with you, just probably driving my family crazy, just bitching about it all the time. ‘I wanna fight, I wanna fight,'” Mix told Cageside Press, asked about his time in limbo. “All it was is, I just wanted to stay active and fighting. That was probably the hardest part. But it wasn’t like, I don’t really put the necessary blame on anyone, one particular person.”
“I know cards fell out, and it wasn’t just me not fighting is what I’m saying, it was a majority of people. It wasn’t like I was singled out.”
And so there were no thoughts of revenge on Mix’s part at least. “I knew there was a lot of people having to deal with a similar problem. I just was praying that not just myself but everyone could stay active, and just make some money for their families. That’s it.”
Watch Saturday’s full media appearance by UFC 316’s Patchy Mix above.
