A sequence of events that began with UFC veteran Bryce Mitchell praising Adolf Hitler ended with him down on the mat, submitted at UFC 314.
Jean Silva forced Mitchell to tap out with a ninja choke in the second round of the main card in Miami on Saturday, notching a win in a fight that had seen an enormous amount of talk for all the wrong reasons. With the victory in hand, Silva took the opportunity to scream in his briefly unconscious opponent’s face.
Mitchell began the fight by refusing to touch gloves with Silva, who had been boisterously critical of him in the run-up to the fight, then nearly lost in the first round when a takedown attempt resulted in what looked like a decent guillotine for Silva. Mitchell managed to work his way out of it after a minute or so.
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He again declined to touch gloves to open the second round, and Silva responded by landing another big strike early in the second round. The ending came a few minutes later.
The Miami crowd was vocally on Mitchell’s side throughout the fight and chanted “U-S-A.” President Donald Trump and multiple members of his circle, including Elon Musk, were also in attendance.
Silva told Joe Rogan after the fight he was surprised Mitchell refused to touch gloves, then ripped his character:
“I was surprised because I really thought it was part of the game, part of the promotion, but apparently, it’s part of him. I’m sad for him, and you know what? I hope we all hope and pray and help out Bryce Mitchell, because I don’t think he’s right in the head. It’s part of him and there’s something wrong with him for him to be like that.”
Silva finished his interview by saying he wanted fellow Brazilian Diego Lopes, who is fighting Alexander Volkanovski in the main event Saturday, for his next fight.
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As many MMA fans — and some people who are just attuned to the more bizarre corners of the sports world — will remember, Mitchell became infamous beyond the combat world when he declared his full-throated admiration for Hitler on his podcast, with no qualifications:
“I honestly think that Hitler was a good guy, based upon my own research, not my public education indoctrination. … He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country and turning them all into gays.”
Those comments earned Mitchell revulsion from even Dana White, who makes a point of not stopping his fighters from making questionable comments. The UFC CEO said, “I’ve heard a lot of dumb, ignorant s*** in my day, but this one’s probably the worst,” and added, “That’s the problem with the internet and social media — you provide a platform for a lot of dumb, ignorant people.”
Of course, White still put Mitchell in the Octagon on Saturday. Mitchell later issued an apology and said he is “definitely not a Nazi.”
Silva seized on the negative attention entering the fight, leading chants of “F*** Bryce Mitchell” at a press conference and leaving his opponent so bothered, Mitchell later said he wasn’t able to sleep because the Brazilian had cast a spell on him with “a legion of demons” that were attacking him and sending beautiful women to tempt him into cheating on his wife.
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Yes. Really.
To the UFC, that was all marketing, and the end result was more attention for a main card fight between one guy on the lower end of the UFC featherweight rankings and another guy trying to break in.
Catch full UFC 314 results, highlights and round-by-round coverage here.
