In one of the most anticipated fights at UFC 282, Bryce Mitchell was dominated by fellow unbeaten featherweight Ilia Topuria – but he apparently might have an excuse.
Topuria soundly defeated Mitchell with an arm-triangle choke in the second round Saturday night in Las Vegas. Up until the finish, it was all bad for Mitchell, who was battered and outclassed for the majority of the 8:10 they shared inside the octagon.
Less than 48 hours later, Mitchell explained why.
“I definitely got to let you know that definitely wasn’t me out there,” Mitchell said Monday in a video posted on Twitter. “I had the flu the week before, and I thought I’d just tough it out. I didn’t feel good at all in there. That wasn’t myself. I trained a lot harder and could’ve performed a lot better, but I went in there with stuff hurting, not up to 100 percent. Like I said, I had the flu.
“I wish I wouldn’t even took the fight, but I didn’t know it would mess me up that bad. I thought I would be able to hang in there for all three rounds, because that’s what I trained for. I trained for my cardio to be there the whole time. It wasn’t even there one bit of the time.”
Mitchell, 28, lost for the first time in 16 professional fights, including seven with the UFC. He was coming off the biggest win of his career against Edson Barboza in March.
Prior to UFC 282, Mitchell said he was disappointed that beating Barboza didn’t lead to a bigger name than Topuria, who moved to 13-0 overall and 5-0 in the UFC.
For more on the card, visit MMA Junkie’s event hub for UFC 282.
