UFC 296 star Bryce Mitchell has thanked his opponent Josh Emmett, who he says “could’ve killed him” after a scary knockout. The 29-year-old fighter, also known as ‘Thug Nasty’ was defeated in the first round at the T-Mobile Arena in Las Vegas.
After being knocked out by a powerful punch, Mitchell began having convulsions and was treated by UFC medical staff. He later posted a video on social media from his farm in Arkansas, praising Emmett for not following up with more punches. “I wanna let you all know that I am so happy with Josh Emmet,” Mitchell began. “Because right after he knocked me out, he could have followed up with the hammer fists and it probably would have killed me.
“He didn’t even follow up with anything. He was just happy with his knockout and he walked away. I’m so gracious for that and I’ll forever remember that.” He continued: “And I love that whole team, that Alpha Male team, I love every single one of you guys. Thank you for not hitting me extra Josh.”
Despite having only two weeks to prepare for his latest fight due to Chikadze’s injury withdrawal, Emmett put on a powerful display. After bouncing back from two losses to Yair Rodriguez and Ilia Topuria, he secured his 10th win in the UFC and 19th overall MMA career victory.
He praised his opponent’s toughness but also reminded everyone of his own strength in the featherweight division. “I am the most powerful featherweight in the world. It only takes one shot,” Emmett declared after the fight. “I’m back baby. I’m f***ing back, you guys. I want to thank Bryce for taking the fight.
“He took it on two weeks’ notice. He’s a dangerous guy, I wish him nothing but the best.” On the same UFC card, welterweight champion Leon Edwards successfully defended his title against Colby Covington by unanimous decision. The British fighter won 49-46 on all three scorecards.
Each official scored the first four rounds in favour of the champion, with Covington only being awarded the fifth and final round. Edwards defended his title for the second time after defeating Kamaru Usman with a powerful head kick to win gold in August 2022.
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However, Covington didn’t agree with the result and shared: “I thought the third, fourth and fifth rounds were mine. The fifth was mine, easily. Fourth, I thought was mine as well, too. And, you know, I thought I did enough in the third. He didn’t put any damage on me. He got a couple of low kicks, but then I started checking them at the end. So I thought I had the win. I thought I did enough.”
Despite the referee’s decisions, Covington did acknowledge that there were no excuses for his performance, which was the fourth loss of his career. “I would rate my performance a 5 out of 10,” he added. “I can sit here all day and make excuses. I could have zigged when I should have zagged. It was a timing thing, because I was off, but that’s the cloth that I was cut from, so I’m not going to make excuses.”
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