Featherweights
#10 FW | Bryce Mitchell (15-1, 6-1 UFC) vs. #12 FW | Dan Ige (17-6, 9-5 UFC)ODDS: Mitchell (-205), Ige (+170)
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Mitchell’s public persona makes it quite easy not to take him seriously, but that overshadows the reality that “Thug Nasty” is quite a crafty and effective fighter. Mitchell made it to the UFC via “The Ultimate Fighter” in 2018, and the scouting report was that the Arkansas native was a fairly one-dimensional grappling specialist. While that may have been true at the time in a broader sense, it also underrated exactly how effective Mitchell was on the mat, as he consistently hung with some tough opposition even before scoring a rare twister submission on Matt Sayles at the end of 2019. During that time, Mitchell also started building out an unorthodox but effective striking game, fighting at range with a messy approach at times while also possessing an impressive level of natural accuracy. His wrestling won the day against Edson Barboza, but it was still a feather in Mitchell’s cap that he was able to outmaneuver and knock down one of the sport’s most feared strikers on the feet. Of course, Mitchell’s last fight, a December loss to Ilia Topuria, does raise some cause for concern. Mitchell was apparently ill heading into the fight and did look particularly flat, but Topuria’s combination of grappling skill and lack of fear allowed him to mostly cut through the Barata MMA rep’s game, eventually scoring a second-round submission. That is an interesting blueprint for Ige to follow. If nothing else, he has the level of durability to pull it off after going toe-to-toe with some hard hitters and never looking the worse for wear. However, the bet is that this fight never gets much above a simmer and results in a lot of frustration for Ige. Mitchell should be able to dictate a range and outmaneuver Ige, leaving the Hawaiian unable to get inside and win the types of striking exchanges that would serve him the best. That also comes with the expectation that Mitchell can find some modicum of wrestling success against Ige, though a blowout would be a surprise. While there is some cause for intrigue if Ige can stuff a few takedowns, the pick is Mitchell via decision.
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