Bryce Mitchell is an undefeated UFC featherweight fighter, who has a very unique personality. Mitchell, hailing from Arkansas, is a very strong grappler. The Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt holder started his MMA career in 2015 against Sheldon Smith. Bryce won the bout with a first-round rear-naked choke submission. He had an impressive 8-fight run, where he submitted all of his opponents.
On his 8th professional fight, Mitchell won the V3 Fights featherweight title. After defending it once, Mitchell got the call-up to fight for the UFC, and he started his UFC journey in 2018. After beating Tyler Diamond and Bobby Moffett via judges’ decisions, Mitchell pulled off a twister submission move against Matt Sayles to earn his first Performance of the Night bonus.
Twister is an overly complicated submission move, which few fight fighters have successfully executed. Hence, fans started to take note of the country boy. After that, Bryce Mitchell beat Charles Rosa, Andre Fili, and Edson Barboza. His 6-fight win streak earned him a place in the Top 10 of the 145lbs division of the UFC.
Although he is a high-level grappler who can certainly cause some serious trouble to the elite of the division and can become a champ someday, he is mostly in the headlines for his worldviews. From going off on gun law restrictions to going after Joe Rogan to claim that earth is flat, here are some of the most absurd and bizarre Bryce Mitchell rants to date!
When Bryce Mitchell challenged Joe Rogan to a “flat earth” debate
Other than being the host for “The Joe Rogan Experience,” Joe Rogan also serves as the UFC color commentator. Hence, Joe often invites the fighters to be on his podcast. However, Bryce Mitchell was not waiting for any invitation. Instead, he addressed Joe directly and challenged him to a debate. Although fighters like Conor McGregor and Cris Cyborg beefed with Rogan before, nobody challenged him to a debate.
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So, what prompted the 28-year-old in issuing such a challenge to the 55-year-old? Apparently, Bryce Mitchell believes that the earth is flat. Although years of scientific research have debunked the theory, Mitchell is not ready to accept it. Joe Rogan is not a supporter of that conspiracy theory and it enraged the UFC featherweight fighter.
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Bryce believes that Rogan’s opinion is insulting to him and his mother. According to Mitchell, it is the sun that rotates around the earth instead of the opposite being the case.
“Hey, I’m here to call out Joe Rogan for talking c*** about me and talking crap about my mama. He’s been doing it for too long. Me and my mama will tell you right now, this earth is flat. It ain’t moving around at no 600 something thousand miles an hour, spinning at 1000 miles an hour and floating through the universe constantly, okay?”
“This earth is flat, it’s fixed and the stars and stuff rotate around us. The sun rotates around us, okay? and I can prove that. I’d love to debate you Joe Rogan, cause I’m tired of you making fun of flat earthers.”
Mitchell has interesting views on vaccination and gun control laws
Bryce Mitchell not only thinks the earth is flat, but he also had some interesting thoughts on the pandemic too. In 2020, the COVID-19 pandemic started spreading all over the world and lockdowns started happening all over the country. However, if Bryce Mitchell is to be believed, it was the government who allegedly made the virus.
“I blame the government. I really do. It’s usually who I blame for everything. I think the coronavirus was made by the government. I think the good government made the damn virus. I think that they infected the people on purpose to cause some type of chaos. There’s some people making good money and stuff.”
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Mitchell is from the countryside and often posts pictures on his Instagram with guns. Hence, during his 2020 interview with MMA Junkie, he was also fearful that the government may try to take guns away from its citizens, and gun control rules were put in place to discourage the citizens from availing the firearms.
In a 2022 interview with Ariel Helwani, Bryce Mitchell elaborated on why he will not relinquish his guns. Although he maintains that the guns are primarily for hunting purposes, Thug Nasty is also using the guns to protect himself from the government. Mitchell also thinks that mandating COVID-19 vaccines is unfair and he needs the guns to protect himself from any unjust laws.
“These guns behind me, that’s the reason in Arkansas they don’t have forced vaccines, they can’t force they don’t have the power… We’re armed to the teeth brother… We will not let this government inject what they say is medicine into our body, without our consent. I feel a lot of countries don’t have a lot of the same freedoms that I have.” (h/t via lowkickmma)
Regardless of how different his views are, it does not change that Bryce Mitchell is an amazing fighter and currently has a career record of 15-0. Fans can catch him in action at UFC 282, where he fights Ilia Topuria on the main card.
