UFC analyst gets brutally honest about Bryce Mitchell's chances of success at bantamweight after Said Nurmagomedov win

UFC analyst Din Thomas recently shared his thoughts on Bryce Mitchell moving to bantamweight and his recent win over Said Nurmagomedov. While Thomas lauded Mitchell's latest victory, he questioned the Arkansas native's ability to win UFC gold at bantamweight.

Mitchell defeated Nurmagomedov via unanimous decision at UFC Abu Dhabi last weekend. The fight notably marked his return to the 135-pound division. While some fans are optimistic about Mitchell's chances of success at bantamweight, Thomas remains doubtful.

In an interview with Mike Bohn, the UFC analyst lauded Mitchell's "brilliant" win over Nurmagomedov, saying:

Bryce Mitchell was brilliant. Honestly, going into this fight, I didn't think he was going to win. I didn't think he was going to make weight, much less win... He went out there and had a tough first round, and despite that, pulled off the win and just out-dogged, out-worked Said Nurmagomedov. It was brilliant."

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However, he questioned Mitchell's ability to hold his own against the division's elite and said:

"The reality is if you can't win in the top five of your division, you're probably not going to win in the top five of the division under you, either. It's not necessarily a size thing for you holding you back. It's really kind of a skill thing... Once he gets up against those top guys in the division at bantamweight, he's still going to struggle." [H/t: MMA Junkie]

Watch Din Thomas' full interview below:

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Bryce Mitchell gets 100% real about recent UFC Abu Dhabi win

Bryce Mitchell recently got honest about his win over Said Nurmagomedov and came clean about how tough it was to get through the fight after getting rocked by a knee in the opening round.

The Arkansas native relied heavily on his grappling to keep Nurmagomedov contained over the next four rounds and ultimately managed to outpoint his opponent.

At the UFC Abu Dhabi post-fight press conference, Mitchell addressed the fight and said:

"I mean, I didn't expect to be in that much pain to be honest, but yeah, I knew it was going to be hard, but I didn't think it was going to be that hard. I'll be honest, he's tougher than I thought. Like everything on my body hurts, like everything."

He continued:

"Yeah, he hurt me real bad in the first round. Like I said, I don't even remember like half of the first round... I was just fighting for my life. Like, I really was praying during a fight like Jesus just please keep me alive because the fight felt like death. I remember fighting for air. I remember getting hit and seeing lights, and I remember like coaches telling me between rounds like you can do this, you can do this just like dig."

Catch Bryce Mitchell's comments below (1:25):

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Edited by Nishant Zende.