Bryce Mitchell announced that he had the flu before facing Ilia Topuria at UFC 282, but claimed he had no choice but to fight.
After a smashing autograph victory over permanent contender Edson Barboza in March, Mitchell wouldn’t return to Octagon until December.
However, the featherweight contender revealed that he felt he had no choice but to agree to fight ‘El Matador’ due to his financial situation.
Bryce Mitchell claimed that he felt compelled to agree to a fight with Ilia Topuria in December due to his financial situation.
“Actually, we’ve been looking for months to get that game on December 10. Do you know what I mean?’ The 11th-place featherweight told ESPN MMA reporter Brett Okamoto.
It’s not like, “Well, if you don’t fight Topuria, we’ll get you one next week”, not like I’ve been trying for months, like, “Okay, I’m ready to fight, can we?” I think. buy something?” A month passes: nothing.
A month passes: nothing. A month passes: nothing. Another month goes by: “Hey, we have a man named Movsar. [Evloev]”I don’t care what your name is, let’s fuck off!”
However, the match scheduled for UFC Fight Night 214 in November will be canceled after the undefeated Russian standout pulled out due to injury.
The 11th-ranked featherweight also claimed to have the flu before the UFC 282 game.
Mitchell would suffer his first professional defeat to Topuria after being eliminated in the second round.
Mitchell later claimed that the UFC had offered him a match with Topuria for December and warned that if he declined, he would be without a reservation until February, a possibility he could not face.
“Still, a month later he said, ‘Hey, Mitchell, if you want to fight Topuria, you have to fight next month. If not, queue up until February. And I said, “Let’s go in December.” Let’s fight next week,” I’d say, but that’s not the case.
If I don’t fight now, I’m living on a few thousand dollars by February and so I accepted the war, but I thought I’d go there and win, I didn’t know I was going to lose.’
Mitchell would face the first loss of his professional career against Topuria at the T-Mobile arena and succumb to an arm triangle choking in the second round.