Bryce Mitchell may have to hang up his gloves following Saturday’s scrap with Jean Silva.
In one of the most anticipated fights at UFC 314, the two featherweight standouts will square off in a heated grudge match in Miami. Mitchell has garnered significant criticism over the last couple of months, particularly after he dubbed Adolf Hitler “a good guy” and someone he would have liked to have gone fishing with during the inaugural episode of his Arkansanity podcast.
Following his fourth straight knockout inside the Octagon in February, Silva called for a clash with ‘Thug Nasty,’ citing Mitchell’s ignorant comments as the key motivator for his request. Days later, UFC CEO Dana White confirmed the two would meet in ‘The 305.’
Addressing members of the media during Wednesday’s UFC 314 media day, Silva spoke about Mitchell’s devastating knockout loss against Josh Emmett in 2023, and suggested that if he delivers a similar result, ‘Thug Nasty’ may have to strongly consider early retirement.
“He’s fought Ilia Topuria,” Silva said. “He beat Edson Barboza, Dan Ige. Everything was going good until that knockout, until he got knocked out by Josh Emmett and I think that really messed up his brain and his emotions and everything just kind of went wrong. You can tell that he’s not looking at this the same way that he used to look at it before. It just really messed him up.
“So the fight’s going to go, he’s going to try to take me down, I’m going to defend, I’m going to throw some shots at his head, might knock him out in the first, in the second. We’ll see, but maybe he’ll need to retire after this because he’s going to have some brain damage after this one.”
Jean Silva dismisses Mitchell’s complaint that he’s treated him ‘Like Total S***’
Before Silva had his turn with the media, Mitchell doubled down on his belief that ‘Lord’ is possessed by demons and accused the Brazilian of treating him “like total sh*t” in the weeks leading up to their fight.
Silva was quick to laugh off Mitchell’s complaint, noting that he has no problem with his opponent as fighter, but with the way he chooses to express his controversial and often-unhinged opinions.
“I never disrespected him as a fighter,” Silva said. “His skills or his abilities, he’s fought really tough guys in the UFC, but it actually upsets me that—he can believe whatever he wants to believe, but it upsets me that he doesn’t see the position that he’s in as a public person and doesn’t mind his words and disrespects people and children and everything else.
“He talks a lot about God, but he wears a t-shirt with God with guns around him, so that makes no sense to me. It’s a lot of contradictions.”
