Bryce Mitchell says he wasn’t expecting such a stern test in his first fight at 135-pounds in a decade.
Mitchell, 30, rebounded from a submission loss to rising featherweight contender Jean Silva with a unanimous decision win over Said Nurmagomedov on the featured prelim of the UFC’s latest event in the UAE capital on Saturday – but the win didn’t come without a little hardship along the way.
‘Thug Nasty’ was caught with a big knee shot from his Russian opponent in the first frame which sent him to the canvas, nearly leading to the end of the fight. Mitchell, though, rallied and was able to able to fend Nurmagomedov off and would later claim the judges’ decision after employing a grappling-heavy approach in rounds two and three.
“Good thing is if you get kneed in the face, a lot of times, you don’t feel it,” Mitchell said afterwards. “A lot of times, you don’t even remember it. Yeah, somebody told me he kneed me. I believe you. I just I wasn’t there for it.”
He added: “I knew it was gonna be hard, but I didn’t think it’s gonna be that hard. I’ll be honest, he’s tougher than I thought. Everything on my body hurts. Like, everything.”
Mitchell also credited his coaches with giving him the wherewithal to calm the stormy seas after Nurmagomedov’s knee landed.
“I remember fighting for air. I remember getting hit and seeing lights, and I remember my coaches telling me between rounds, ‘You can do this. You can do this, just dig,’” he said.
“It was a really, really hard fight, and if you ever get in one of those, I just recommend you pray because that’s literally what I was doing. I mean, I wasn’t figuratively. I was literally praying, ‘Jesus, please just keep me alive.’
“I can’t think of a time I’ve been in more pain after the fight. I mean, damn. My head hurts. My feet hurt. My hands hurt. My arms hurt. Everything was just hurt. My stomach’s hurting. I was just in a lot of pain.
“I was literally praying, ‘Jesus, please just keep me alive.’ And I was fighting with all my strength and afterwards I was overheated. I could barely move.” He emphasized, “I wish it would have been more exciting for the fans, but I was just fighting for my life.”
