UFC 314 is going on right now and despite what the headline of Volkanovski and Lopes, the real reason why people are tuning is for Paddy vs. Michael Chandler.
But in the waning moments leading up to the event, there was another fight that is in the forefront, prominently featured on the main card, and getting a ton of media attention... but for all the wrong reasons.
That fight is Bryce Mitchell vs. Jean Silva
This fight has been turned into a media-frenzy feud of epic proportions for a reason that for the most part has been complete fabricated. Bryce Mitchel started a podcast not that long ago and whether or not he did it to purposely troll and bait the prospective audience or not, only he and those in his circle know, but he praised Adolf Hitler in that episode and well, anytime anyone does this it matters not if they meant it in jest, they immediately get thrust into the spotlight.
This one comment lead to people actually paying attention to his podcast and I think I can speak for almost everyone else in the world when I say that if he hadn't made these comments and attracted the media towards him, I wouldn't even know the guy had a podcast. Hell, I am a ardent supporter of UFC and I struggle to really remember anything about his MMA career.
Bryce has been around for a while in UFC, since mid 2018 and he has won all but 1 of his fights. But before we get too excited about that I want you to understand that his spree of victories are against nobodies or has-beens that the UFC uses to promote other upcoming younger fighters such as Edson Barboza.
His fights aren't necessarily bad, but they aren't particular good either. Almost all of his victories come from decisions and he is a tactician that once he thinks he is up on points, doesn't seem to really go "for the kill" anymore at that point. This gets him a rather lukewarm reception and people struggle to remember who he is. This is also why after 7 years, fighting consistently in the UFC and only losing once, he is only ranked 13 in the featherweight division.
He isn't a draw on a card... Until now that is.
He is on the main card of UFC 314 and his opponents, Jean Silva, isn't ranked in the top 15, I'm not even sure where he ranks if he even does. I do know that looking through his UFC resume, that I don't recognize any of the people that he has defeated. I suppose it is exciting that all of his victories have been KO's though.
That's exciting and all, but this fight is set up the way that it is SOLELY because of the comments that Mitchell made on his podcast, not because of his in-ring performance.
Bryce Mitchell is an odd character. He is a flat-earther and doesn't appear to be terribly smart about a lot of things. I don't really know much about him other than he doesn't seem to think before he talks and well, in the world that we live in now, these are the people that get attention.
The official word of certain people in the public eye is "hoping that he gets his ass kicked" but only because of what he said, not because of his fight acumen or performance. His opponent being a darker skinned Brazilian can't be a coincidence because they wanted to set up some sort of "race war" so that other people can secretly be supporting Bryce at the same time.
Keep in mind that this is just my opinion and by no means the official word of anyone, especially the UFC.
My hopes for this fight is that it is a good fight but if Bryce wins, especially if he wins in some sort of glorious fashion, this is going to propel him to the spotlight position of Colby Covington 2.0.
I wouldn't mind that, because Covington's heel persona was a lot of fun. I just don't like what we have "market manipulation" going on on the part of the owners and in some cases the fighters themselves. Isn't fighting supposed to be about how well you can fight?