Bryce Mitchell accepts his submission loss to Jean Silva in what was the biggest grudge match on last Saturday’s UFC 314 card from Miami, Florida.
Mitchell, who drew widespread criticism for comments made about Adolf Hitler during a January podcast appearance, was submitted in the second round by surging contender Silva in the latest chapter of what is now a 13-fight win streak — with 12 of those wins coming inside the distance.
Prior to the bout, the deeply-religious Mitchell had framed it as a sort of ‘Good vs. Evil’ battle but now that the dust has settled he said in a video message posted to social media that he is thankful for the support he received in advance of the battle.
“I want to thank everybody for their support and let ya’ll know I’m doing just fine,” Mitchell said, as noted by MMA Fighting. “Thank God, he protected me. I didn’t lose my teeth. I don’t got no broken bones. So I feel good about that. I fought as hard as I possibly could. I couldn’t have fought any harder. I could have fought smarter.
“I’m going to go make some adjustments but I mean he put me to sleep. I had nothing left to give. I’m happy about that, knowing that I tried my best. But I’ve got to get better. That’s just the lesson learned here, I’ve got to get better.”
Mitchell’s podcast comments, in which he appeared to whitewash some of the deeds of Hitler, prompted widespread scorn from fight fans and Dana White alike — but nonetheless, Mitchell said that he had also received widespread fan support in advance of the fight.
“I have never had this much outpouring of support,” Mitchell said. “It’s just crazy. It’s been a whole crazy week and I can’t even put it into words. I really thought that I was going to win the fight. 100 percent believed it. Because I just never had a fight that big before and I was like wow out of nowhere, this fight just got this much hype. God’s chosen me to win this fight but that wasn’t the case.
“I’m just going to keep fighting. That’s all I can do,” Mitchell concluded. “That’s all we can all do. Any time you take a loss, just learn from it and keep fighting. That’s what I’m going to do.”
