Jean Silva isn’t the first Brazilian striker Bryce Mitchell has stood toe-to-toe with.
A controversial star on the UFC roster, Arkansas’ Mitchell returns this weekend on the main card of UFC 314 where he takes on Jean Silva.
The Fighting Nerds’ Silva carries a lot of hype heading into the featherweight matchup in Miami, the unranked prospect finishing 12 of his 15 wins by knockout.
Exchanging wins and losses to the best in recent years, it wasn’t long that ago when Bryce Mitchell was a 15-0 contender in the featherweight division, taking his place in the top 10 with six-straight wins and a rare twister submission.
The grappler’s biggest victory to date? Former top-5 lightweight contender and one of the scariest knockout artists the UFC has ever seen: Edson Barboza.
Bryce Mitchell almost knocked out Edson Barboza in 90 seconds
Brazil’s Barboza has UFC wins by head kick, body kick and even two by leg kick. Barboza fought a murderer’s row in the lightweight division including Tony Ferguson and the undefeated Khabib Nurmagomedov before moving down to 145lbs where he’s found success later into his career.
Not with Mitchell though. Entering a striker vs. grappler matchup at UFC 272, Barboza was absolutely dominated by ‘Thug Nasty’.
90 seconds into the opening round, Mitchell landed the biggest shots of the fight, knocking down the Brazilian with a 1-2 combo. The commentators couldn’t believe their eyes.
Instead of rushing for the finish on the feet, Mitchell took his time getting Barboza down to the ground. Mitchell controlled with top position for the majority of the round where it’d be one-way traffic from then on.
Bryce Mitchell had more control time than Khabib Nurmagomedov
In the second round, Barboza wouldn’t have anything for Mitchell in the striking, getting taken down again, this time 30 seconds in. Midway into the round, Mitchell cuts Barboza open with an elbow with blood leaking out.
Barboza eventually got back up only to be taken down again.
A minute into the third round, Mitchell perfectly timed a double-leg takedown to control Barboza for the rest of the fight. Mitchell battered and bloodied Barboza with ground and pound, unleashing elbows before the final bell.
Mitchell defeated Barboza via unanimous decision (30-25, 30-26, 30-27) with one judge scoring two 10-8 rounds for Mitchell.
Compared to Khabib Nurmagomedov’s dominant performance against Edson Barboza in 2019, Mitchell went 4/4 on his takedown attempts whereas Nurmagomedov went 4/13. Mitchell controlled Barboza for 58 seconds longer than Nurmagomedov did.
Mitchell had 28 more total strikes than Nurmagomedov, only falling behind in significant strikes.
“The amount of ground control in this fight,” Joe Rogan said of Mitchell’s win over Edson Barboza.
“We haven’t seen anybody do this other than Khabib…
“Who has done this to Edson Barboza? No one, right?” Rogan asked.
Faced with Jean Silva this Saturday, Bryce Mitchell will likely have to recreate this kind of performance to shut his dangerous opponent down.
