UFC 320 was supposed to be a redemption fight for former Bellator champion Patchy Mix (20-3). He signed with the promotion back in May and took a short-notice fight against Mario Bautista. That same night, the bantamweight title was on the line and Mix wanted to show that he was a title contender right out of the gate.
Mix put in one of the worst performances I’ve ever seen from someone debuting with the amount of hype that he had. Call it octagon jitters or blame ring rust, something just looked off. He didn’t look like himself in there and he lost an incredibly lopsided decision to Bautista.
The UFC gave him a step back in competition and a chance to redeem himself on Saturday night. He was paired with a former KSW champion making his octagon debut, Jakub Wiklacz (17-3-2). Wiklacz is a grappling specialist and you figured this would be the type of opponent that Mix could thrive against.
Instead, Mix found himself on his back losing the first round. The second round of the fight was the decisive round and it really could have gone either way. In the third round, Mix landed a takedown and really controlled the entire round. Myself along with 12 other media members scored the fight 29-28 for Mix.
However, five media members scored the UFC 320 fight for Wiklacz and as you know, the fight came down to a split decision. I didn’t have a problem with either guy winning and ultimately, two of the judges gave the fight to Wiklacz.
After UFC 320, we wonder, what happened?
In November 2023, Patchy Mix ran through and submitted Sergio Pettis to become the undisputed Bellator bantamweight champion. Mix was 19-1 at that point with his lone loss being to Juan Archueta in a fight where he dominated early but gassed out on his way to losing a decision.
At that moment in time, myself and many in the MMA community stated that Mix could compete with any bantamweight in the world. Sure, he wasn’t in the UFC, but he had ran through guys like Kyoji Horiguchi, Magomed Magomedov, Raufeon Stots, and now Sergio Pettis. The guy looked legit.
His striking was improving and he had elite grappling. Then, Bellator folded into the PFL. Mix fought in May 2024 in a rematch against Magomed Magomedov and despite dominating Magomedov in their first fight, Mix barely won the rematch by split decision with many thinking he lost.
I chalked it up to a guy just fighting uninspired. PFL didn’t get Mix another fight and he spent over a year on the shelf. Finally, he was released from his contract and the UFC scooped him up. Mix was 32 and he still felt like he was in his prime. I had such high hopes for him becoming a top contender in the stacked bantamweight division.
I gave him the layoff and the jitters excuse for that first performance. However, this second performance is inexcusable. Yes, I had Mix winning, but as I tweeted out during the fight, Mix didn’t even look like a UFC fighter on Saturday night.
His striking defense is awful, really his striking in general looks awful. His grappling looks decent, but it’s nothing to write home about. He honestly looks like someone who lost his ability to fight at an elite level. I don’t know if it’s a camp issue or what, but something is wrong.
I don’t know how you fix it, but the reality is, if Mix cannot regain some of his old form in his next fight, he’s likely going to be cut from the UFC in what would be arguably the most disappointing run of all time.
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