“She is, you ain’t kidding,” laughs Mitchell. Sounds like we found the real fighter in the family. You give me that paper right now and I’ll sign it and I hope you do get your ass whupped.’” But she got so mad at me, she said, ‘You know what, Bryce? You need discipline. My grades were fine, she’s just real picky. “Then we got into a fight over grades because she told me my grades were slipping. “I couldn’t get her to sign the papers,” Mitchell recalled. His mom didn’t care for the sport and Mitchell needed her to sign a permission slip because he was 17. Soon, though, the training got more serious and Mitchell wanted to test himself in a real MMA fight. ‘What are ya’ll doing in here?’ We’d tell her we just tripped.” But sometimes we’d get to sparring and I’d close the garage door and we’d bang into the garage and she’d come out pissed off. I told my mom we’d just be doing drills and stuff and most of the time we would be. “When I was 16, I started to train in my garage a little bit and I got some pads and put them on the garage floor. “Whenever we were having legit boxing matches in the backyard or front yard, we make sure the parents aren’t home,’ said Mitchell. But the question is, how did his mom react to having a makeshift fight promotion going on? It was in those unconventional environments that Mitchell got his MMA education. “I’ve taken ass whuppings in the backyard, and I’ve given some as well.” That’s okay, because we’re sure Mitchell has been through some tougher times battling it out in the front and backyards of Cabot, Arkansas. It’s the best thing that ever happened for me.” But I’d have been a fool to turn it down. (Laughs) We beat the piss out of each other. It might not have been the best way, because it was hard as s**t. So when you have that opportunity (to go on TUF) there, I took it for my family, to better myself. I’m in the middle of Arkansas, so I don’t know if they’re gonna call me or not. You don’t know if they’re gonna call you. “But man, it’s hard when you don’t really know for sure. “If you look at it rationally, that’s the course that I was on,” he said of continuing to build his record until getting called up to the big show. Yet despite 14 amateur fights and a 9-0 pro record, Mitchell was on the fence when it came to staying on the regional circuit and waiting for the UFC, or taking matters into his own hands by competing for a contract on The Ultimate Fighter: Undefeated. Ws3Sk5dTxsĪt just 23 years old, Bryce Mitchell has done everything he’s needed to do to get a call from the UFC. A man ready to give it his all, when opportunity calls.
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