Bryce Mitchell pulls out of Karate Combat grappling bout just days from grudge match

02/24/2025 10:58 AM

Bryce Mitchell has pulled out of his upcoming grappling match with Ilay Barzilay that was due to take place this week.

The controversial featherweight was set to pile on 34lb from his last fight with Kron Gracie at UFC 310 to compete at a 180lb-catchweight. His opponent Barzilay is a career-lightweight with an undefeated 6-0 MMA record, and is of Israeli descent.

‘Thug Nasty’ took to social media to confirms his pull out, without informing Karate Combat bosses before making the decision. It is believed that he had permission to compete outside of the UFC, as many fighters do in non-striking events.

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Bryce Mitchell pulls out of Karate Combat fight with Ilay Barzilay

In an Instagram video shared this afternoon, Bryce Mitchell declared that he won’t be competing as planned this weekend against Ilay Barzilay. The pair were set for a grappling match, but he insists that he is out due to having a major UFC fight announcement in future.

In the video, he claimed to be telling his followers, which number at almost 600,000, the news before even contacting Karate Combat to let them know.

In his own inimitable style, Mitchell wrote the following message littered with spelling errors: “I’m dun messin around with any grapplin matches for a while i have to fite wen i have the chance. and things just got stirred up in my division this week so i need to b on standby.

“I wont make the mistake of takin a grapplin match then cancelin for a fite again. sorry about it for everyone who had their hopes up. Like i said , somethin better is comin. So it will all work out.”

Bryce Mitchell is one of UFC’s most controversial names

Bryce Mitchell has long been one of the most outrageous figures in the UFC, and in recent weeks has made himself one of the most controversial. In the debut episode of his podcast Arkansanity he declared that he would have liked to go ‘fishing’ with infamous Nazi leader Adolf Hitler.

This led to widespread condemnation for Mitchell, who has previously espoused a number of conspiracy theories including flat earth. He has also claimed that gravity is a ‘hoax’.

After Mitchell’s comments on his podcast, he was widely condemned in the sport, with UFC boss Dana White telling media: “We reached out to Bryce immediately when we read what he said, and let him know exactly how we felt about it.

“But what he said was beyond disgusting and he needs a real education on the facts surrounding Hitler and World War Two… Hitler is one of the most disgusting and evil human beings to ever walk the earth, and anyone that even tries to take an opposing position is a moron.

“That’s the problem with the internet and social media. You provide a platform to a lot of dumb and ignorant people.”