ABU DHABI – Bryce Mitchell is still not over his loss to UFC lightweight champion Ilia Topuria.
Mitchell (17-3 MMA, 8-3 UFC) was submitted by Topuria in their featherweight bout at UFC 282 in December 2022. Mitchell later revealed that he was battling the flu, and unable to perform to the best of his ability.
“The Ilia fight, that’s the one fight that still just makes me mad to this day,” Mitchell told MMA Junkie. “But you live and you learn, and there’s nothing I can do about it except do my best this next fight.”
Both fighters have since switched weight classes, with Mitchell dropping down to bantamweight, and Topuria (17-0 MMA, 9-0 UFC) moving up to lightweight. Topuria claimed the vacant 155-pound belt by knocking out Charles Oliveira at UFC 317.
“I think that it’s well deserved,” Mitchell said of Topuria’s success. “I don’t have any ill-will towards him, I just don’t like him because he called me a coward, and I’m not a coward. He is a liar because he called me a coward. I proved that I’m not a coward.
“I fought the man, and I’ll fight him again. I’m not a coward. He did whoop me, but I’m not a coward. A coward is someone who doesn’t show up to fight. He’s a liar because he called me a coward. I don’t like him, probably never will, but I also don’t wish any harm upon him.”
Mitchell was able to test Topuria’s grappling a bit by taking him down once in their fight, and controlling him for over a minute. “Thug Nasty” is adamant that he could get the best of Topuria, but knows a rematch isn’t realistic at this point.
“I’m better at it than he is,” Mitchell said of Topuria’s grappling. “I wish I could get that rematch. Obviously, I don’t deserve it, but I think that I can beat him. I know I can, but I’ll never get to prove that to the world, but that’s OK. Not everything happens the way that you want it.”
Mitchell makes his bantamweight debut in the octagon when he takes on Said Nurmagomedov (18-4 MMA, 7-3 UFC) at UFC on ABC 9 (ABC, ESPN, ESPN+) on July 26 from Etihad Arena.
