Fighting Bryce Mitchell is like trying to escape an endlessly breaking wave.
Bryce Mitchell achieved victory despite a severe eye injury and put on a stifling fight to defeat his rival Dan Ige in the co-main event of UFC Vegas 79.
Despite some cuts and severe swelling that had to affect his eyesight, Mitchell continued to press forward to land takedowns, allowing him to control Ige on the ground for several minutes throughout the fight. Mitchell spent almost the entire third round wearing Egg as he looked for the submission that helped him secure the victory while recovering from the first loss of his career.
Bryce Mitchell survived a broken eye to defeat Dan Iger by unanimous decision,#fight #mma #boxing #ufc #fighter
نجا برايس ميتشل من الهزيمة بعين مكسورة لينتصر على دان إيجر بقرار إجماع الحكام pic.twitter.com/cJIe9drO9O
— mmamag.ma (@jamalsoussi10) September 24, 2023
When it was over, the judges scored the fight 30-27, 29-28 and 29-28 with Mitchell getting the nod.
The brash Arkansan ranked 10th in the featherweight division was the combative embodiment of his “Thug Nasty” nickname against Dan Ige, taking his 12th-ranked counterpart down five times in 15 minutes while grinding his way to a unanimous decision in Saturday’s co-main event.
Now a few weeks shy of birthday No. 29, Mitchell executed 15 takedown attempts and continually chased choke-out submissions in spite of grotesque swelling from the combination of a cut on his right eyelid and another below the eye on his cheek.
The wounds prompted a brief visit from the cage-side physician in the second round, but the fight continued, and Mitchell persevered to win all three rounds on one scorecard and two of three on the others.
“It’s a scratch, man, that ain’t nothing,” Mitchell told analyst Michael Bisping. “I don’t know what you’re talking about.”
The win was Mitchell’s sixth in seven UFC fights since an appearance on The Ultimate Fighter in 2018. Ige, meanwhile, lost for the sixth time in 15 fights since graduating from Dana White’s Contender Series a year earlier.
“He’s the hardest hitter I ever fought,” Mitchell said of Ige, a Hawaiian native to whom he pledged to donate $5,000 of his fight purse to help victims of recent wildfires. “I didn’t expect him to hit so hard or move so well.”
