Bryce Mitchell suffered the first loss of his 16-fight career at UFC 282, where he was largely dominated and ultimately finished by Ilia Topuria via submission, and it seems he’s taken it so hard that he’s now considering retirement.
The revelation came from the ESPN+ show ‘The Thrill & The Agony’ as the 29-year-old Mitchell tried to come to terms with the defeat backstage after the fight.
“I’m just feeling … I guess regret, you know?” Mitchell said. “I just know I could have done better. I’m just in so much pain that I don’t think it’s worth it to keep going. I want to stop with MMA and I want to take every little bit of focus that I spent every day on MMA, I want to put it into something else.
“Everything is meant to be and I’m just going to move on with my life and take all the energy I spent doing MMA, and I’m going to put it into something else. I think I’m going to be extremely successful,” he continued. “That’s why I’m just saying I should f—ing retire after that dude before I go any further, and move on with my life. I just don’t ever want to feel this much pain.”
It’s highly likely that Mitchell was just overwhelmed with emotion after his seven-year winning streak came to an end and that once the dust settles he’ll think differently.
In a video posted on the Monday after the fight Mitchell didn’t bring up his post-fight talk of retiring, instead telling his fans that he felt he shouldn’t have taken the fight as he’d had ‘the flu’ a week before and didn’t feel good in the Octagon on the night.
“I’ll come back stronger, I just hate going out on that one like that, but I will be better, I’ll be alright.”
— Pelunaton (@pelunaton) December 19, 2022
Thank y’all for the luv! pic.twitter.com/SCIJZSOK2I
— Bryce Mitchell (@ThugnastyMMA) December 12, 2022
