Bryce Mitchell put his grappling skills to good use tonight at UFC 272 to control Edson Barboza on the mat for three rounds and earn a convincing unanimous decision victory.
Round One:
Head kick attempt from Mitchell to start. Heavy leg kick from Barboza. Front kick to the body from Mitchell.
Another heavy inside leg kick from Barboza. He lands again. Another connects. Outside leg kick from Mitchell.
Jab for Barboza. He looks for a punch and Mitchell lands a body kick. Mitchell catches Barboza off-guard with a left hand and drops him close to the cage. Barboza immediately back up, but Mitchell immediately closes the distance and looks for a takedown.
Mitchell gets Barboza down and has him uncomfortably crushed up against the cage from full guard.
A little ground-and-pound lands for Mitchell to the body and head. Mitchell postures up to get a bit more leverage behind a few punches and then is down to his knes again.
Again he postures up, but this time Barboza is able to kick him off and get back to his feet.
Two body punches from Barboza. Spinning kick to the body from Barboza misses. Big punch from Barboza and that certainly got Mitchell’s attention as the round is drawing to a close.
Round Two:
Leg kick for Barboza. Front kick to the body from Mitchell. Punch from Barboza and then founds himself being planted on his back courtesy of a Mitchell takedown.
Mitchell back in full guard landing some light punches to the head while staying tight to his chest. An elbow lands and opens up a cut to Barboza’s left eye. Barboza scoots back to the cage.
Ref tells them to work and Mitchell responds with a big elbow strike to the head. Mitchell looking to pass, but Barboza does well to work back to his feet, only to be brought back down quickly.
Mitchell in half-guard and then moves further up as he looks for full mount. A couple of solid punches land for Mitchell, but Barboza does keep him in half-guard.
Elbow lands for Mitchell. Final 10 seconds and he postures up and lands a few punches before the round ends.
Round Three:
Barboza steps in with a punch to start. They both let their hands go at close range for a moment. Head kick attempt from Mitchell, but it doesn’t pay off and he falls backwards to the mat. Barboza reluctant to follow him there though so he stands up.
Jumping kick attempt upstairs from Mitchell. Now he drives nicely into a takedown attempt and gets into full guard in the center of the Octagon.
Nice right hand from Mitchell. He postures up. He lands a left hand and Barboza find space to try for a triangle choke, but Mitchell stands and is able to shake that off, then goes back into full guard.
Mitchell postures up again. He’s able to pass to half-guard now. Barboza looking for a leg lock attempt, but nothing doing and Mitchell steps up ffurther to three-quarter guard and lands some nice punches to the head.
That softens up Barboza enough to move up to full mount. They battle between half-guard and full mount a few times, with Mitchell managing to land a few more punches inbetween. Final few seconds and Mitchell lands more blows from half-guard.
Decision:
No doubt about the winner here then, with Mitchell using takedowns and lengthy spells of control from top position to earn a unanimous decision victory (30-25, 30-26, 30-27).
