September 16, 2023 • 32 mins
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Welcome back to Fitz Nation! My special guest is none other than the one-and-only Bryce Mitchell. This episode reveals Bryce's life from being a small-town boy to being on the cusp of a significant fight against Dan Ige.
Bryce's life outside the octagon is just as fascinating. At the age of 21, he started a farm and expanded it to 16 acres, a testament to his dedication and commitment. On our chat, Bryce discusses the importance of self-sustainability and the rebellious spirit it represents.
Moving on to the crossroads of Bryce's fighting career and his faith, prepare to be inspired as Bryce opens about his unwavering passion for the sport and his mission in mixed martial arts. The faith he holds in God is unshakeable and plays a significant role in his fighting career, even if his prayer warrior mother disapproves. Hear all about his respect for Dan Ige and the love for Hawaii. This episode is a testament to Bryce's strength, determination, and faith... can't wait for you to listen!
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Transcript
Episode Transcript
Available transcripts are automatically generated. Complete accuracy is not guaranteed.
Speaker 1 (00:04):
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of
Fitz Nation.
Thanks, as always, for checkingit out, and you're in for a
treat on this one, because acouple of days ago I caught up
with Bryce Mitchell in personout here in Las Vegas ahead of
his big fight against Dan E Gaycoming up this Saturday, if
you're listening on his fightweek.
Before we get to the interview,I just want to tell a quick
(00:27):
story about Bryce and Dan E Gayand why this matchup kind of
means a lot to me.
So Bryce Mitchell is from Cabot, arkansas.
I went to Cabot High School and, as it turns out, my
brother-in-law who's listeningto this one I don't know if he
listens to any other podcastthat I do, but he's listening to
this one he was stationed inthe military in the Little Rock
area and he found his way tolive in Cabot Arkansas.
(00:49):
So I had been to Cabot out inthe country.
It's about a half hour outsideof Little Rock and when Bryce
Mitchell starts coming on thescene on the ultimate fighter
and he has some success thereand he's the character that he
is on that show and he's fromCabot Arkansas Well obviously my
ears perked up.
I know exactly where that is.
I've been to Cabot, arkansas.
So then Bryce makes his way tothe ultimate fighter finale and
(01:15):
wins the featherweight divisionof that show.
And I remember talking to himthat fight week and we just had
a connection right away becauseobviously I could speak his
language a little bit as far aswhere he's from.
And then Dan Ige, as many of youknow, is from Hawaii and my
wife is from Hawaii, but notjust Hawaii.
They are both from the town ofHala Eva on the North Shore of
(01:38):
Oahu.
And not only that, dan Ige hasin-laws that live on the street
that my wife grew up on.
That I still have family on.
So when we go back to visitI'll oftentimes run into his
brother in Los Skylar who is inhis corner all the time.
And so obviously, this matchupyou have Dan Ige from Hala Eva,
(01:58):
hawaii, and you have BryceMitchell, who I've had a
connection with for years fromCabot Arkansas.
This is one of those matchupswhere I wish they could both win
, but obviously that's not howour sport works.
With Bryce it was great to talkto him again, great to see him
in person.
Obviously he makes headlineswith things that he says all the
time.
He's a character that is unlikeany other.
(02:21):
We talk about the fact that hehas found Christianity during
this UFC run.
He wasn't all that religiouswhen he started in the UFC, but
he is now a very devoutChristian, as you may have heard
.
He also talks about Dan Ige andwhat he feels about him,
because, if you remember, acouple of years ago these guys
went back and forth on Twitter.
(02:41):
They were nasty to each other,they've wanted this fight for
years and here it is, inSeptember of 2023.
It'll go down, but I hope youenjoy this episode and my thanks
to Bryce Mitchell and my thanksto his former college roommate,
kid Cannon, who's now a cameraguy for our mentioned UFC
originals team shoots a lot ofembedded and Bryce came out to
(03:05):
stay with his good friend, kidbefore the fight.
Kid, let me know he said comeon over to the house, bryce is
going to be there.
You could do a podcast at mykitchen table and that's exactly
what we did.
Enjoy how you doing, bryce.
Oh, I'm doing great.
I'm doing absolutely.
It's great to run into you.
We're out here in Las Vegas.
It's almost fight week for you.
What have you been up to sincelast December, since last we saw
(03:27):
you against Ilya Toporya, andyou're one of those guys that
when you go away and you're notfighting, you kind of keep to
yourself and you're not outthere.
What you've been up to?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, the main thing, I've got to apologize to all
these fans for pulling out ofthat last fight.
You know I had a fight bookedafter that.
I was training really, reallyhard and Something set my back
off.
I can't even remember what itwas, but I just remember being
in extreme pain.
Yeah, I remember my back wasset off.
It was either running, running,does it like if I do hard
(03:56):
sprints.
I got to be real careful and allthat, but Something set my back
off and I had to pull out ofthat last fight with.
Everloft.
But other than that, you know Ijust been farming and Running
my businesses.
You know I do rentals on theside so that keeps me busy.
I'm building a house.
You know I'm Shoot.
(04:16):
I'm getting married.
You know I'm moving out of my30 foot trailer.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Oh, you are, yeah, I got.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I live in a camper or trailer.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, some old lady, we ain't got a closet.
We put all our clothes, westack all our clothes up in a
damn pile.
Yeah, she's so sick of it.
So I'm building a house.
I've you know, I never builtthe house before.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I'm building and here's the thing about Bryce
that I love, that I love aboutyou and that a lot of fans love
about you when you say you'rebuilding a house, you are
actually building the house.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I have built the house, the house you built the
house.
Now I can't do no electrics,because that would be a shocking
experience, and I can't do no,no serious plumb.
I can do plumbing more like Ican do plumbing repairs.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Got it Okay sure.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I can do plumbing repairs, but I went ahead and
hired a plumber to do the wholeplumber.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
But you framed it.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I framed the whole house.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I framed the whole house.
I actually cut the boards upmyself.
I didn't go to Home Depot bythe wood because the woods
overpriced because of theinflation in this economy.
Right you know.
So I went to the sawmill andbought the, bought the rough
cuts and I made the.
I made each board and then Ibuilt the house out of them
boards.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, so you're moving on up and you're moving
into a house.
The legend of Bryce Mitchell inthe trailer was a fun.
It was a fun ride.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It was a great time and I think if my wife gets mad
at me, I'm gonna go right backto the trailer and now did you
build the house on the sameproperty?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, it's right, it's right.
So what have you learned,though, about living simply?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Um, that it's amazing and that all of these fools
with their hundred thousanddollar cars and their hundred
thousand dollar gold chains andMultiple nefarious women, their
fools.
And I need a trailer, I need awife, I need God and I need to
(06:01):
grow as much of my own food as Ican and that's what makes me
happy and that's all I need if Ihave God, my wife, our food and
our animals.
Like I'm so content.
And Of course, I'm alwaystrying to take it one step
further get more animals, getproduce more crop, make the
house nicer, make, you know,build a pole barn, this or that.
So I'm not saying I'm like I'malso pursuing things, but it's
(06:25):
not worldly things, you know.
I mean it's, it's it'snecessities to run a farm.
And people ask me all the timehow much money you make on a
farm?
Zero, I spend all my money onthe farm.
I want to tell you this didn'tknow what make any money on the
Ark?
Probably not.
He spent every damn thing hehad making that Ark and one day
(06:45):
it paid off.
And I'm telling you, I farm forthe same reason that Noah built
the Ark.
There is a disaster coming.
I'm ready to feed the Lord'sarmy.
That's why I farm to feed theLord's army.
Yeah, people don't understandthat.
We're gonna have to form arebellion.
We're gonna have to fight.
They're gonna take all ourfreedoms, brother, we're gonna
have.
(07:05):
The Lord is gonna have to havean army, and that army is gonna
have to eat, and that's wherepeople like me come Into play.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, but like from a self-sustaining point of view,
that you eat your own food andall that stuff, oh yeah.
So it's like, how much do youmake farming?
It's like, well, I don't haveto spend because I can.
You know, homestead, basically,right yourself sustaining in
that right.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, right and as it goes, like if you're starting
up the farm from nothing,especially with zero knowledge,
like I did 20 years old, maybe21 I got into this and I poured
everything I had into it andthere's a learning curve and
it's it's.
If I had to graph it out likeit would be like that would be
your productivity right, becauseat first you're actually it's
(07:47):
gonna go down Mars.
Yeah, sure you're gonna benegative in production, and then
you're gonna slowly, and then,but one of these days, dude, I'm
gonna spike, I'm gonna figureit out once.
I get my infrastructure, Idon't even have my
infrastructure.
And so, as much as I'veexpanded, I'm not even close to
maximum, not even close tomaximizing my production.
Yeah, not even close.
(08:07):
How many acres do you have?
Well, I stay on 16 16 acres.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, that's a lot of land.
Well, it's you know, I meanwell relative to some people in
Arkansas, it's not a lot of land, right, it's enough.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, exactly it depends what you're doing.
If you're doing beef cows, it's, it's not a lot and that's what
I got into doing.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
That's what oh, you got cows.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Right, absolutely you know, and all my cattle is for
beef.
Of course I could milk them ifI wanted to, but they're not
specifically milk cows.
So there's there's some cowsthat produce a lot more milk
than others like a Jersey cowthat's in my area.
The most popular ones areJersey, I think.
The other ones are Holstein.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I'm saying that, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Holstein.
That's right, that's one,because the black and white
spots there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Those are the classic ones.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I'm getting a Holstein after this fight, bro,
I'm getting you're gonna get thewhole thing.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Did you know that pasteurized milk is just poison,
dude, it's just terrible foryou has all the new treat.
All the nutritional value ofmilk is lost during the
pasteuration.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice.
I mean I believe all of it likethat's why didn't they outlaw
raw milk?
They did and then there's a lotof people that pull up and
they're just like here I'm gonnasell you raw milk and you know
we're gonna have to rightbecause the government is
working against us.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's what people got to realize.
If they're making a law for oursafety, it's not really for our
safety.
And there's nothing wrong withraw milk.
I've drank it.
I'll suck that milk straightout the cow's tip, dude, I don't
care.
That's the best way to get itfresh that day.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, in terms of your spirituality, I feel like
earlier in your UFC run you'reprobably had faith and Christian
and religious, but you seem tobe more so now.
Did something happen in thelast few years where you've
(09:51):
gotten more into yourspirituality and your faith and
your religion?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Well, I wasn't a Christian when I first started
USC.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
That's what I thought .
And then I remember yourpost-fight and you were talking
about donating to charity, thechildren's charity, when I
donated to charity.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That was the first fight that I actually fully
believed in Jesus Christ, andwas what happened.
Well, I felt the presence andthe Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ
as I was casting out a demon.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And how are you doing that?
Exorcisms are real.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, like what happened?
Well, I was in an argument witha person who was possessed by
demons and I didn't know what todo and I can't, you know.
I won't get too specific, but Iwas arguing with a possessed
person, and it's very clear whensomebody's possessed In my case
they were talking to a wall,they were whispering to a wall,
(10:44):
and I felt it in my stomach.
You know, when you go up on thetop of a hill and then you drop
down at hill and your stomachdrops, I felt this dark presence
and I felt my stomach drop andI felt something I never felt
before, and I knew that my sinhad led me to this path and that
there was no way out.
I could not get this possessedperson out of my home.
I had invited this person intomy home and they were destroying
(11:08):
it and they were possessed andI was witnessing a full-blown
possession, something that Inever believed in, and I
instantly reverted back to myroots.
I was raised by my mother, whoalways taught me the word of
Jesus, the word of Jesus, thepower of Jesus, and so in that
moment, the first thing thatcame to mind is the word of
(11:29):
Jesus and I said in the name ofJesus Christ, I command all evil
to leave.
And it was just like that.
The possessed person was gone.
They walked right out the doorand this is what happened before
.
That was about two hoursarguing and my stuff getting
broken and my house was gettingtrashed, and I spoke the name of
Jesus and instantly this demonwas gone and from that day I
(11:51):
have dedicated my life to Jesus.
I owe him everything, and whatmakes me so upset about it is
that I spent the years prior tothat making fun of people who
were religious, saying that thisstuff is bad for us, and I'm
telling you right now, religionis the only thing that's going
to save us.
I'm sorry.
Not religion, not religion, I'msorry.
(12:12):
Jesus Christ is the only thingthat's going to save our country
from collapsing.
It's the only thing that'sgoing to save our souls from
total destruction, and alltongues will confess and every
knee will bow.
I have felt the presence ofJesus Christ.
I don't believe.
I know.
I know the power of JesusChrist.
I spoke it, I saw it, I felt it.
I felt the Holy Spirit for thefirst time in my life, because I
(12:35):
genuinely needed Jesus and Icalled upon him and he was there
when I needed him.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
In feeling that?
Do you feel like a release ofpressure, like a surrender of,
like you don't have to worryabout anything anymore?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yes, and I still do struggle with worrying about a
bunch of stuff.
But I shouldn't, because Ishould have the ultimate faith
in Jesus Christ.
But every day I'm worried aboutsomething.
I'm praying Jesus, help me.
Jesus help me with this.
But in the grand scheme ofthings, my soul is protected, my
family is going to be protected, and that's all in the name of
Jesus.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, I think that surrender is known as like a bad
word or, like you know, agiving up type of word, but I
think it's very valuable, nomatter whatever you believe in.
If you just kind of surrenderthat the universe is going to
support whatever you want, Ithink there's power to that.
Takes a lot of pressure, a lotof stress off your plate.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Well, I'm surrendered to a much more powerful, a much
more righteous and much moreholy person than myself.
I'm trusting them with that.
You know, when you look at theBible and all the prophecies
that have come true from it, andso if there's any atheists out
there that are just saying Idon't know, that Bible is all a
bunch of crap, well, look atSodom and Gomorrah.
(13:45):
They just unburied it.
Have you seen that?
They just unburied Sodom andGomorrah.
They found the actual town,Sodom and Gomorrah.
There's balls of sulfur in theground.
There's molten, there's potteryand bronze.
With so much heat that hit oneside of it so only one side of
it got hot, you know what I mean.
But there's bronze artifacts,pottery that scorched on one
(14:08):
side, just like the Bible says.
You know, God took that placeout, just like that Noah's Ark.
You know, go watch GrahamHancock and Richard what's his
name?
I can't remember GrahamHancock's one of them, Randall
Carlson.
Okay, these are two scientiststhat are completely.
(14:29):
They have all the evidence toprove that there was a world
flood and before these guys saidit, there was a book that said
that there was a world flood.
You know what I mean.
So the Bible is slowly beingconfirmed scientifically.
And there's a firmament, Justlike Genesis says.
There's a firmament, there's adome around the earth.
That's what I'm trying to tellyou.
(14:50):
There's no man that's been tospace, no man's been to the moon
.
That's what I'm trying to tellyou and this science is gonna
reveal itself and that's gonnaprove the Bible correct even
more.
Another thing you know the mostcurrent prophecy that we're
going through.
That's very blatant, that youcannot deny.
You can make up any otherexcuse you want to.
You can say, oh, the Bible'swrong, blah, blah, blah,
(15:10):
whatever.
Or the Bible got lucky.
But you cannot say thatEuphrates River ain't dry.
Revelation 16-12,.
The six angel poured upon hisbowl, upon Euphrates, and it ran
dry so the kings from the eastcould make way.
There's gonna be an army crossthat dry Euphrates River to go
destroy the Holy Land, just likethe Bible says.
(15:31):
Now a guy wrote that 1,900years ago when there were 200
million people on the planet.
He predicted an army of 200million would walk across that
Euphrates when it was dried.
You know they thought John wasa nut when he wrote that 1,900
years ago, because there wasn't200 million people on the planet
, the Euphrates River was raging.
Now it's dry and there's anarmy of 200 million to the east,
(15:53):
just like the Bible said 1,900years ago.
So I've been chosen by God totalk about this stuff and save
as many people as I can.
I'm sorry I don't save anybody.
Jesus Christ saves them, butI've been led to tell them the
truth.
Proclaim the righteousness ofJesus Christ and he chose me to
do that, and I know we do.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
How do you?
Because I think you would beable to acknowledge that a lot
of people don't believe what yousay.
Right, a lot of people disagree.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I know they don't believe and that's why I love
them, because they genuinelydon't believe what I'm saying.
I love them.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I understand.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I was one of them.
I was lost.
I didn't believe in the name of.
Jesus Christ.
I spoke it and watched a demonleave my presence.
I know the power of JesusChrist and I know what they're
feeling because I lived it for10 years.
I used to make fun of the Bible, Right, right so it doesn't
make you upset.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
No, you seem to be very gracious about but you seem
to be very secure in what youbelieve and that it doesn't make
you upset that other peoplemight think you're a little
crazy or that you believe thisstuff.
That's like pie in the sky.
You seem to be very it's.
Whatever it is, it's okay withyou.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
It's just fine with me and those are my people.
Brother, that's who I've beencalled to save Right.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
That's who I've been called to live, because you were
one of them, not alone I wasone of them.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
That's why.
That's why I believe that Godlet me so God, let me walk down
that path of darkness for solong, because when I was, when I
returned to the light.
Now I can see other peopleliving in darkness.
I know what they're missingbecause I was them, and so a lot
of Christians.
They've never experienced thedarkness that I've experienced.
They've never been eitherface-to-face with a possessed
(17:30):
person or have any type ofdemonic experiences like I've
had, and they don't have thesympathy that I have for these
other people.
They look at them and say, ohyeah, well they're, they deserve
to go to hell.
And that's not how I think, man.
I want to.
I want to tell people that thatJesus can save them.
(17:50):
But you know, I can't donothing.
All I can do is tell you thatthe Bible is true and prove it.
I can prove that the Bible istrue, that I can prove that
you've prayed is as dry.
I can prove there was a flood,a world flood.
I can prove there was a towncalled Sodom and Gomorrah and
God's sending up the flames, youknow.
But that's what I'm trying todo is I'm trying to save those
people that are lost just like Iwas.
(18:11):
I don't judge them.
I love them.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
What is the challenge for you to live day to day,
knowing like what you believeand then knowing what's out
there, because I think I thinkwhen a lot of people kind of
make that crusade, like you'reon, there's a lot that can make
(18:36):
you upset right, because there'sa lot of wrongdoing in the
world, there's a lot ofnegativity in the world and it's
in our faces all the time withhow the media culture is.
What's it like for you, day today, to try to get out of the
world?
What's it like for you, day today, to try to live happy?
Do you try to live happy?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I try to brother and I'm that's probably my number
one sin is just being consumedwith anger sometimes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's like when I get angry, I have this wrath.
It's just uncontrollable.
I like to punch doors, I liketo punch walls, I like to
headbutt stuff, I like to curse,make a total fool out of myself
and I'm very guilty of beingconsumed by anger, and God's
helping me with that.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
How do you bring yourself back though?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
So prayer has been helping a lot.
I mean, that's really theanswer is prayer, of course, the
word of God, the word of Godand prayer, and those are the
most powerful things.
When you catch yourself beingnegative, absolutely.
My wife will catch me beingnegative.
Yeah, sometimes it takes peopleoutside of us and I know I'm
being mad, but then she'll callme out on it and I'm like, okay,
god, now everybody's seeing howmad I am, you know.
(19:47):
And so I got to just workthrough these anger problems.
But, yeah, dude, I get mad andin a lot of my frustration, it
is just what you said it is theworld.
I might be mad at this or that,and it's a little thing.
It might seem like it's alittle thing, but I'm mad at the
world, bro.
I hate the way that the worldis going.
I absolutely hate it.
(20:08):
This tyranny, this destructionof our freedom, this trafficking
of children.
I'm so mad at all this stuff.
Yeah, and, but you got to trustin God that he's gonna do the
right thing.
And here's the thing is like Ihear a lot of people are turned
away from God because because Itry to talk to everybody about
(20:28):
God, now you know.
And so they say, well, yeah, ifthere's a God, he's not doing
very good.
He's not doing very goodbecause there's children being
trafficked, there's people bornwith genetic mutations that
can't live a normal life,there's people get raped, people
get murdered.
We know this.
Okay.
Now let me tell you why thathappens.
That's because of sin, notbecause of God.
(20:51):
If God would have made us towhere we were 100% obedient and
didn't have the choice to sin,our love for God would mean
nothing.
It would mean nothing to him.
God gave us the option to loveeach other or hate each other.
And you can look at the worldand most of it's hate, okay, but
(21:11):
it's the easier emotion to getright, right, right, right.
Yeah, it takes a lot ofreasoning to love thy neighbor.
You know what I mean, Insteadof be jealous of thy neighbor
and want what they have and wantto take from them.
That's a kind of a survivalinstinct.
But God's all about love thyneighbor.
In fact, matthew 27 is the mostimportant thing.
(21:32):
This is Christianity, righthere.
It's love your God with allyour heart and love thy neighbor
with all your heart, like youdo yourself.
Yeah, and so that's whatChristianity is all about Now,
with that being said, god givesus the option to hate each other
.
God gives us the option to kill, traffic, murder, rape, all of
that stuff.
I said, kill and murder, that'sthe same thing.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You know what I'm saying.
Yeah, god gives us the optionto do bad.
Don't blame God because there'smurder, rape and all this sin
in the world.
If he doesn't want puppets, hewants free people.
God gives us freedom.
He created us in his image andgave, gives us freedom to act
upon however we want, and mostpeople do turn to hate, most
(22:12):
people do turn to darkness.
It doesn't matter.
Those are still people that wecan.
We can bring back to the line.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Knowing all that, and like the mission and the
passion that you have forsomething greater than all of us
, how do you approach yourcareer?
How do you approach yourfighting career?
Put God first.
Yeah, glorify the king.
Like how important is fightingto you.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
It's up there, you know it's, it's, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Top five, right, but how you manage that, like, how
do you, you know, when you havethe perspective that you do of
the bigger world, because a lotof times to be successful in a
sport like mixed martial artsyou got to be tunnel vision,
laser focused.
It's so challenging.
How do you manage farming, allthe different things your
(23:02):
passion, your faith, yourspirituality with a sport that's
just really really tough to do,even if that's your only thing
that you're into.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Well, I guess it starts with a passion for the
sport.
For whatever reason, I juststill have it.
I love.
Yes, I still love.
And really I heard SeanStrickland say this.
He said he loves to train moreand he loves to fight.
That's kind of me.
Training was therapeutical forme.
It is therapeutical for me.
That's before I startedfighting.
(23:31):
I just always loved training.
You know, in martial arts Istarted taekwondo when I was a
kid.
I didn't think I was gonna doUFC, I just liked taekwondo.
You know, I liked wrestling inhigh school, I liked doing
jiu-jitsu tournaments, and thenone day I figured out that my
purpose from God was to fight tothe best of my ability to
(23:52):
praise God in front of everybodythat was watching, because
there's nothing I could do andhave more eyes on me.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I was gonna say it's quite a platform.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's almost like it was intended, like I have a
purpose from God, ain't it?
It's almost like it's not acoincidence.
Yeah, you know I have a purpose.
I know I do.
My mom always told me and Ididn't believe her for a long
time, and now I know she's right.
Mama don't lie, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Does she watch?
She don't.
She don't watch none.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
She hates it yeah she hates it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Does she still call it MAA?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
She calls it MAA man.
She says it's a devil, thankGod, she don't like it.
Yeah, but you know, she's justa prayer warrior man.
She's praying for my healthright now.
She's just, she's a warrior,I'm a warrior.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
There you go.
You see what I mean.
I got you you certainly arewhat's been the focus of this
training camp as you get back inthere for the first time in a
while.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Make it to the fight, Not embarrass myself, Bring
shame to my family by having topull out.
You know I've been praying formy health.
I've been training really smart.
I think the good Lord is goingto heal me I don't know that but
I have a good sense that I'mactually going to make it to the
fight and I have to pull outand look like a coward this time
.
You know, I just really didn'tlike having a sign of the
(25:09):
contract saying I'd be there andthen not be in there.
That bothered me.
So this fight.
I'm just praying for my healthand did I make it to the fight?
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, I know in the past.
So you took 2021 completely off, but you fought twice a year,
pretty much every other yearsince you've been in the UFC.
But what I have heard from fromkid is like you like to become
a different version of yourselfevery time I do.
What is the next version of you, if you care to tell it?
(25:40):
I mean, I don't want to getyour game plan, but like, how
would you describe yourevolution as a fighter?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Man, I mean, I'm just always adding in technical
stuff.
I mean it just it would comedown to like I've worked on my
wrestling Jiu-Jitsu, my boxing.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Worked on everything.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I've worked on everything and it's like to get
into specifics.
It's like I know how muchbetter I am at different things,
but it's just like it's hard toexplain these intricacies.
But you know, I'm better atjabbing, I'm better at not
getting jabbed.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
You know what I?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
mean I'm going to fight more efficiently, and
things like that.
You know, it's just really hardto explain all that stuff and
it's hard to even think like howhave I gotten better?
But it'd take a while becauseI'd have to recap all my
training.
But yeah, I'm working on myspeed, my strength, I mean all
of it.
I think for all of us.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's tough to see how far we've come without some
measure of like specific results, right, you know?
It's like how much better of anannouncer am I this year
compared to last year?
I don't know, I just keepshowing up and doing the job,
but you know you're probablybetter.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Probably better yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Not getting yelled at .
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah right right, right.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So it's one of those things, the matchup with Dan Ige
.
So you guys have obviously hadlike some social media history
and you went back and forth onTwitter.
That was a few years ago and Ifeel like it died down and he's
also a man of faith to thehighest degree.
What are your thoughts on DanIge before you get ready to kind
of stare him down and go fighthim?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I love that guy man.
I love that guy.
I love Hawaii.
I'm sorry for what's going onover there.
There's a Satan right there.
You know that fire wasn't noaccident.
I don't want to get youcentered.
I don't want to get you banned,but I'm just going to tell you
that fire was pure evil.
Okay, there's evil forces atplay here in the world, and I
(27:42):
love Dan Ige.
I respect him.
I really love his coach too.
I respect his coach.
I have nothing bad to say abouthim.
I can look at him and tell heprobably hits pretty hard.
He's a good fighter.
I'm going to watch my mouth.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
It's a great fight.
I think a lot of fans are goingto love to see you guys just
purely compete instead of theextracurricular.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Yeah, I have nothing bad to say about him.
I just really really like theguy, respect the guy because
he's always giving the glory toGod.
He's just like me.
My heart's out for him.
I've been praying for himbecause of these fires in Hawaii
.
I don't know if he has anyfamily over there in Hawaii, but
I bet he has friends or peoplethat are like that.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
He's from a different island.
I know that because my wife isfrom Hawaii.
I'm not sure his connections toMaui, but I'm sure he knows
people that were caught up andaffected somehow.
Exactly, I've been to Maui andso, yeah, it's been too bad.
Everybody dealing with that,anything else, bryce, what do we
miss?
It seemed like you're in a goodplace.
(28:49):
I got to ask you.
The world is on fire about thefruit trees, bro.
You put out that video and itjust caused such an uproar.
I think a lot of fans are.
You know they want to supportyou and so I'm trying to pass
that.
They already have, bro.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I'm sitting here today.
I have the fruit trees becauseof the fans.
If it wasn't for the fans, if itwasn't for the USC, if it
wasn't for all these peoplesupporting me, I wouldn't have
no damn fruit trees.
So, man, I'm taking care of it,and I wish I probably shouldn't
have announced it.
That goes back to my anger.
I was so angry when thishappened and I was worried that
something worse was going tohappen, and maybe I shouldn't
(29:29):
have told the world that myplace got vandalized and broke
into.
I was kind of worried that myanimals are going to get
attacked next, my family's goingto get attacked next, and so I
know putting that post out justalerted all my neighbors to pray
for me.
I know my neighbors are prayingfor me and that's probably the
one good thing that came out ofthat post is all the prayers,
(29:51):
and all my neighbors are on highalert now.
But maybe I shouldn't have eventold everybody about that
personal stuff.
I don't know.
I've never had somebody breakinto my house and start
destroying stuff like that.
But hey, man, when you tamperwith darkness, you're going to
pay the price.
(30:11):
Don't tamper with darkness,turn to the light.
Okay, when you tamper withdarkness, it might be three
years later, you're still goingto pay the price because you
tampered with darkness and I'mup to light now.
I worship God, but I'm stillgoing to have to pay for my sins
from three years ago.
So that's what I'm dealing withand shoot.
Thanks for everybody who'spraying for me and cares about
(30:36):
me.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Well, I know a lot of the MMA fans and UFC fans out
there wish nothing but the bestfor you.
They're big fans of yours andthey're ready to watch your
fight again, and so am I.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Dude, I'm ready to do it.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I'll have a headset on.
I'll be on the side of theoctagon.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I like Danny Gay a lot.
I'm glad to hear that you likeDanny Gay a lot, and I love the
fight.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
If you see anything he's throwing like, let me know,
say it, that's not my job,that'll be Dom Cruise.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Dom Cruise is good at that, not me.
Thank you very much for sittingwith me this week.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
This thing I always love seeing your Bryce.
Yeah, that was great.
I'm so glad.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
My favorite characters on the whole planet.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Thank you, brother, there you go.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Bryce Mitchell on Fits Nation.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
The honor is mine.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Huge thanks to the one and only Bryce Thug, nasty
Mitchell, for sitting down withme out here in Las Vegas.
It's always great to see himand it should be a great fight
when he takes on Dan Eagate.
Huge thanks to you for checkingout the podcast, whether you
watched or listened.
I hope you check out otherepisodes on UFC Fight Pass.
I do interviews like this withUFC fighters that I believe are
(31:41):
pretty unique compared to a lotof the other interviews that are
out there.
So check out Fits Nation on UFCFight Pass and all the other
great stuff they have there.
You can check out Fits Nationin audio form.
Just search for my namewherever you listen to podcasts,
and also check out some behindthe scenes content on my YouTube
channel.
Just search my name, brennanFitzgerald.
I'll have another one of thesecoming out very soon.
(32:04):
So thanks again for listeningand I'll talk to you next time.
Hello everybody, welcome to another episode of
Fitz Nation.
Thanks, as always, for checkingit out, and you're in for a
treat on this one, because acouple of days ago I caught up
with Bryce Mitchell in personout here in Las Vegas ahead of
his big fight against Dan E Gaycoming up this Saturday, if
you're listening on his fightweek.
Before we get to the interview,I just want to tell a quick
(00:27):
story about Bryce and Dan E Gayand why this matchup kind of
means a lot to me.
So Bryce Mitchell is from Cabot, arkansas.
I went to Cabot High School and, as it turns out, my
brother-in-law who's listeningto this one I don't know if he
listens to any other podcastthat I do, but he's listening to
this one he was stationed inthe military in the Little Rock
area and he found his way tolive in Cabot Arkansas.
(00:49):
So I had been to Cabot out inthe country.
It's about a half hour outsideof Little Rock and when Bryce
Mitchell starts coming on thescene on the ultimate fighter
and he has some success thereand he's the character that he
is on that show and he's fromCabot Arkansas Well obviously my
ears perked up.
I know exactly where that is.
I've been to Cabot, arkansas.
So then Bryce makes his way tothe ultimate fighter finale and
(01:15):
wins the featherweight divisionof that show.
And I remember talking to himthat fight week and we just had
a connection right away becauseobviously I could speak his
language a little bit as far aswhere he's from.
And then Dan Ige, as many of youknow, is from Hawaii and my
wife is from Hawaii, but notjust Hawaii.
They are both from the town ofHala Eva on the North Shore of
(01:38):
Oahu.
And not only that, dan Ige hasin-laws that live on the street
that my wife grew up on.
That I still have family on.
So when we go back to visitI'll oftentimes run into his
brother in Los Skylar who is inhis corner all the time.
And so obviously, this matchupyou have Dan Ige from Hala Eva,
(01:58):
hawaii, and you have BryceMitchell, who I've had a
connection with for years fromCabot Arkansas.
This is one of those matchupswhere I wish they could both win
, but obviously that's not howour sport works.
With Bryce it was great to talkto him again, great to see him
in person.
Obviously he makes headlineswith things that he says all the
time.
He's a character that is unlikeany other.
(02:21):
We talk about the fact that hehas found Christianity during
this UFC run.
He wasn't all that religiouswhen he started in the UFC, but
he is now a very devoutChristian, as you may have heard
.
He also talks about Dan Ige andwhat he feels about him,
because, if you remember, acouple of years ago these guys
went back and forth on Twitter.
(02:41):
They were nasty to each other,they've wanted this fight for
years and here it is, inSeptember of 2023.
It'll go down, but I hope youenjoy this episode and my thanks
to Bryce Mitchell and my thanksto his former college roommate,
kid Cannon, who's now a cameraguy for our mentioned UFC
originals team shoots a lot ofembedded and Bryce came out to
(03:05):
stay with his good friend, kidbefore the fight.
Kid, let me know he said comeon over to the house, bryce is
going to be there.
You could do a podcast at mykitchen table and that's exactly
what we did.
Enjoy how you doing, bryce.
Oh, I'm doing great.
I'm doing absolutely.
It's great to run into you.
We're out here in Las Vegas.
It's almost fight week for you.
What have you been up to sincelast December, since last we saw
(03:27):
you against Ilya Toporya, andyou're one of those guys that
when you go away and you're notfighting, you kind of keep to
yourself and you're not outthere.
What you've been up to?
Speaker 2 (03:36):
Well, the main thing, I've got to apologize to all
these fans for pulling out ofthat last fight.
You know I had a fight bookedafter that.
I was training really, reallyhard and Something set my back
off.
I can't even remember what itwas, but I just remember being
in extreme pain.
Yeah, I remember my back wasset off.
It was either running, running,does it like if I do hard
(03:56):
sprints.
I got to be real careful and allthat, but Something set my back
off and I had to pull out ofthat last fight with.
Everloft.
But other than that, you know Ijust been farming and Running
my businesses.
You know I do rentals on theside so that keeps me busy.
I'm building a house.
You know I'm Shoot.
(04:16):
I'm getting married.
You know I'm moving out of my30 foot trailer.
Speaker 1 (04:20):
Oh, you are, yeah, I got.
Speaker 2 (04:21):
I live in a camper or trailer.
Speaker 1 (04:23):
Yeah, I know.
Speaker 2 (04:24):
Yeah, some old lady, we ain't got a closet.
We put all our clothes, westack all our clothes up in a
damn pile.
Yeah, she's so sick of it.
So I'm building a house.
I've you know, I never builtthe house before.
You know what I mean.
Speaker 1 (04:38):
I'm building and here's the thing about Bryce
that I love, that I love aboutyou and that a lot of fans love
about you when you say you'rebuilding a house, you are
actually building the house.
Is that correct?
Speaker 2 (04:47):
I have built the house, the house you built the
house.
Now I can't do no electrics,because that would be a shocking
experience, and I can't do no,no serious plumb.
I can do plumbing more like Ican do plumbing repairs.
Speaker 1 (04:58):
Got it Okay sure.
Speaker 2 (04:59):
I can do plumbing repairs, but I went ahead and
hired a plumber to do the wholeplumber.
Speaker 1 (05:02):
But you framed it.
Speaker 2 (05:03):
I framed the whole house.
Speaker 1 (05:04):
Yeah.
Speaker 2 (05:05):
I framed the whole house.
I actually cut the boards upmyself.
I didn't go to Home Depot bythe wood because the woods
overpriced because of theinflation in this economy.
Right you know.
So I went to the sawmill andbought the, bought the rough
cuts and I made the.
I made each board and then Ibuilt the house out of them
boards.
Speaker 1 (05:21):
Yeah, so you're moving on up and you're moving
into a house.
The legend of Bryce Mitchell inthe trailer was a fun.
It was a fun ride.
Speaker 2 (05:28):
It was a great time and I think if my wife gets mad
at me, I'm gonna go right backto the trailer and now did you
build the house on the sameproperty?
Speaker 1 (05:35):
Yeah, it's right, it's right.
So what have you learned,though, about living simply?
Speaker 2 (05:40):
Um, that it's amazing and that all of these fools
with their hundred thousanddollar cars and their hundred
thousand dollar gold chains andMultiple nefarious women, their
fools.
And I need a trailer, I need awife, I need God and I need to
(06:01):
grow as much of my own food as Ican and that's what makes me
happy and that's all I need if Ihave God, my wife, our food and
our animals.
Like I'm so content.
And Of course, I'm alwaystrying to take it one step
further get more animals, getproduce more crop, make the
house nicer, make, you know,build a pole barn, this or that.
So I'm not saying I'm like I'malso pursuing things, but it's
(06:25):
not worldly things, you know.
I mean it's, it's it'snecessities to run a farm.
And people ask me all the timehow much money you make on a
farm?
Zero, I spend all my money onthe farm.
I want to tell you this didn'tknow what make any money on the
Ark?
Probably not.
He spent every damn thing hehad making that Ark and one day
(06:45):
it paid off.
And I'm telling you, I farm forthe same reason that Noah built
the Ark.
There is a disaster coming.
I'm ready to feed the Lord'sarmy.
That's why I farm to feed theLord's army.
Yeah, people don't understandthat.
We're gonna have to form arebellion.
We're gonna have to fight.
They're gonna take all ourfreedoms, brother, we're gonna
have.
(07:05):
The Lord is gonna have to havean army, and that army is gonna
have to eat, and that's wherepeople like me come Into play.
Speaker 1 (07:11):
Yeah, but like from a self-sustaining point of view,
that you eat your own food andall that stuff, oh yeah.
So it's like, how much do youmake farming?
It's like, well, I don't haveto spend because I can.
You know, homestead, basically,right yourself sustaining in
that right.
Speaker 2 (07:27):
Right, right and as it goes, like if you're starting
up the farm from nothing,especially with zero knowledge,
like I did 20 years old, maybe21 I got into this and I poured
everything I had into it andthere's a learning curve and
it's it's.
If I had to graph it out likeit would be like that would be
your productivity right, becauseat first you're actually it's
(07:47):
gonna go down Mars.
Yeah, sure you're gonna benegative in production, and then
you're gonna slowly, and then,but one of these days, dude, I'm
gonna spike, I'm gonna figureit out once.
I get my infrastructure, Idon't even have my
infrastructure.
And so, as much as I'veexpanded, I'm not even close to
maximum, not even close tomaximizing my production.
Yeah, not even close.
(08:07):
How many acres do you have?
Well, I stay on 16 16 acres.
Speaker 1 (08:11):
Yeah, that's a lot of land.
Well, it's you know, I meanwell relative to some people in
Arkansas, it's not a lot of land, right, it's enough.
Speaker 2 (08:19):
Yeah, exactly it depends what you're doing.
If you're doing beef cows, it's, it's not a lot and that's what
I got into doing.
Speaker 1 (08:24):
That's what oh, you got cows.
Speaker 2 (08:26):
Right, absolutely you know, and all my cattle is for
beef.
Of course I could milk them ifI wanted to, but they're not
specifically milk cows.
So there's there's some cowsthat produce a lot more milk
than others like a Jersey cowthat's in my area.
The most popular ones areJersey, I think.
The other ones are Holstein.
Speaker 1 (08:44):
I'm saying that, right yeah.
Speaker 2 (08:46):
Holstein.
That's right, that's one,because the black and white
spots there you go.
Speaker 1 (08:49):
Those are the classic ones.
Speaker 2 (08:50):
I'm getting a Holstein after this fight, bro,
I'm getting you're gonna get thewhole thing.
Speaker 1 (08:53):
That's great.
Speaker 2 (08:54):
Did you know that pasteurized milk is just poison,
dude, it's just terrible foryou has all the new treat.
All the nutritional value ofmilk is lost during the
pasteuration.
Speaker 1 (09:03):
Yeah, you don't have to tell me twice.
I mean I believe all of it likethat's why didn't they outlaw
raw milk?
They did and then there's a lotof people that pull up and
they're just like here I'm gonnasell you raw milk and you know
we're gonna have to rightbecause the government is
working against us.
Speaker 2 (09:18):
That's what people got to realize.
If they're making a law for oursafety, it's not really for our
safety.
And there's nothing wrong withraw milk.
I've drank it.
I'll suck that milk straightout the cow's tip, dude, I don't
care.
That's the best way to get itfresh that day.
Speaker 1 (09:31):
Yeah, in terms of your spirituality, I feel like
earlier in your UFC run you'reprobably had faith and Christian
and religious, but you seem tobe more so now.
Did something happen in thelast few years where you've
(09:51):
gotten more into yourspirituality and your faith and
your religion?
Speaker 2 (09:54):
Well, I wasn't a Christian when I first started
USC.
Speaker 1 (09:57):
That's what I thought .
And then I remember yourpost-fight and you were talking
about donating to charity, thechildren's charity, when I
donated to charity.
Speaker 2 (10:07):
That was the first fight that I actually fully
believed in Jesus Christ, andwas what happened.
Well, I felt the presence andthe Holy Spirit of Jesus Christ
as I was casting out a demon.
Speaker 1 (10:19):
And how are you doing that?
Exorcisms are real.
Speaker 2 (10:21):
Yeah, like what happened?
Well, I was in an argument witha person who was possessed by
demons and I didn't know what todo and I can't, you know.
I won't get too specific, but Iwas arguing with a possessed
person, and it's very clear whensomebody's possessed In my case
they were talking to a wall,they were whispering to a wall,
(10:44):
and I felt it in my stomach.
You know, when you go up on thetop of a hill and then you drop
down at hill and your stomachdrops, I felt this dark presence
and I felt my stomach drop andI felt something I never felt
before, and I knew that my sinhad led me to this path and that
there was no way out.
I could not get this possessedperson out of my home.
I had invited this person intomy home and they were destroying
(11:08):
it and they were possessed andI was witnessing a full-blown
possession, something that Inever believed in, and I
instantly reverted back to myroots.
I was raised by my mother, whoalways taught me the word of
Jesus, the word of Jesus, thepower of Jesus, and so in that
moment, the first thing thatcame to mind is the word of
(11:29):
Jesus and I said in the name ofJesus Christ, I command all evil
to leave.
And it was just like that.
The possessed person was gone.
They walked right out the doorand this is what happened before
.
That was about two hoursarguing and my stuff getting
broken and my house was gettingtrashed, and I spoke the name of
Jesus and instantly this demonwas gone and from that day I
(11:51):
have dedicated my life to Jesus.
I owe him everything, and whatmakes me so upset about it is
that I spent the years prior tothat making fun of people who
were religious, saying that thisstuff is bad for us, and I'm
telling you right now, religionis the only thing that's going
to save us.
I'm sorry.
Not religion, not religion, I'msorry.
(12:12):
Jesus Christ is the only thingthat's going to save our country
from collapsing.
It's the only thing that'sgoing to save our souls from
total destruction, and alltongues will confess and every
knee will bow.
I have felt the presence ofJesus Christ.
I don't believe.
I know.
I know the power of JesusChrist.
I spoke it, I saw it, I felt it.
I felt the Holy Spirit for thefirst time in my life, because I
(12:35):
genuinely needed Jesus and Icalled upon him and he was there
when I needed him.
Speaker 1 (12:40):
In feeling that?
Do you feel like a release ofpressure, like a surrender of,
like you don't have to worryabout anything anymore?
Speaker 2 (12:47):
Yes, and I still do struggle with worrying about a
bunch of stuff.
But I shouldn't, because Ishould have the ultimate faith
in Jesus Christ.
But every day I'm worried aboutsomething.
I'm praying Jesus, help me.
Jesus help me with this.
But in the grand scheme ofthings, my soul is protected, my
family is going to be protected, and that's all in the name of
Jesus.
Speaker 1 (13:05):
Yeah, I think that surrender is known as like a bad
word or, like you know, agiving up type of word, but I
think it's very valuable, nomatter whatever you believe in.
If you just kind of surrenderthat the universe is going to
support whatever you want, Ithink there's power to that.
Takes a lot of pressure, a lotof stress off your plate.
Speaker 2 (13:24):
Well, I'm surrendered to a much more powerful, a much
more righteous and much moreholy person than myself.
I'm trusting them with that.
You know, when you look at theBible and all the prophecies
that have come true from it, andso if there's any atheists out
there that are just saying Idon't know, that Bible is all a
bunch of crap, well, look atSodom and Gomorrah.
(13:45):
They just unburied it.
Have you seen that?
They just unburied Sodom andGomorrah.
They found the actual town,Sodom and Gomorrah.
There's balls of sulfur in theground.
There's molten, there's potteryand bronze.
With so much heat that hit oneside of it so only one side of
it got hot, you know what I mean.
But there's bronze artifacts,pottery that scorched on one
(14:08):
side, just like the Bible says.
You know, God took that placeout, just like that Noah's Ark.
You know, go watch GrahamHancock and Richard what's his
name?
I can't remember GrahamHancock's one of them, Randall
Carlson.
Okay, these are two scientiststhat are completely.
(14:29):
They have all the evidence toprove that there was a world
flood and before these guys saidit, there was a book that said
that there was a world flood.
You know what I mean.
So the Bible is slowly beingconfirmed scientifically.
And there's a firmament, Justlike Genesis says.
There's a firmament, there's adome around the earth.
That's what I'm trying to tellyou.
(14:50):
There's no man that's been tospace, no man's been to the moon
.
That's what I'm trying to tellyou and this science is gonna
reveal itself and that's gonnaprove the Bible correct even
more.
Another thing you know the mostcurrent prophecy that we're
going through.
That's very blatant, that youcannot deny.
You can make up any otherexcuse you want to.
You can say, oh, the Bible'swrong, blah, blah, blah,
(15:10):
whatever.
Or the Bible got lucky.
But you cannot say thatEuphrates River ain't dry.
Revelation 16-12,.
The six angel poured upon hisbowl, upon Euphrates, and it ran
dry so the kings from the eastcould make way.
There's gonna be an army crossthat dry Euphrates River to go
destroy the Holy Land, just likethe Bible says.
(15:31):
Now a guy wrote that 1,900years ago when there were 200
million people on the planet.
He predicted an army of 200million would walk across that
Euphrates when it was dried.
You know they thought John wasa nut when he wrote that 1,900
years ago, because there wasn't200 million people on the planet
, the Euphrates River was raging.
Now it's dry and there's anarmy of 200 million to the east,
(15:53):
just like the Bible said 1,900years ago.
So I've been chosen by God totalk about this stuff and save
as many people as I can.
I'm sorry I don't save anybody.
Jesus Christ saves them, butI've been led to tell them the
truth.
Proclaim the righteousness ofJesus Christ and he chose me to
do that, and I know we do.
Speaker 1 (16:12):
How do you?
Because I think you would beable to acknowledge that a lot
of people don't believe what yousay.
Right, a lot of people disagree.
Speaker 2 (16:20):
I know they don't believe and that's why I love
them, because they genuinelydon't believe what I'm saying.
I love them.
Speaker 1 (16:25):
I understand.
Speaker 2 (16:26):
I was one of them.
I was lost.
I didn't believe in the name of.
Jesus Christ.
I spoke it and watched a demonleave my presence.
I know the power of JesusChrist and I know what they're
feeling because I lived it for10 years.
I used to make fun of the Bible, Right, right so it doesn't
make you upset.
Speaker 1 (16:41):
No, you seem to be very gracious about but you seem
to be very secure in what youbelieve and that it doesn't make
you upset that other peoplemight think you're a little
crazy or that you believe thisstuff.
That's like pie in the sky.
You seem to be very it's.
Whatever it is, it's okay withyou.
Speaker 2 (16:59):
It's just fine with me and those are my people.
Brother, that's who I've beencalled to save Right.
Speaker 1 (17:04):
That's who I've been called to live, because you were
one of them, not alone I wasone of them.
Speaker 2 (17:07):
That's why.
That's why I believe that Godlet me so God, let me walk down
that path of darkness for solong, because when I was, when I
returned to the light.
Now I can see other peopleliving in darkness.
I know what they're missingbecause I was them, and so a lot
of Christians.
They've never experienced thedarkness that I've experienced.
They've never been eitherface-to-face with a possessed
(17:30):
person or have any type ofdemonic experiences like I've
had, and they don't have thesympathy that I have for these
other people.
They look at them and say, ohyeah, well they're, they deserve
to go to hell.
And that's not how I think, man.
I want to.
I want to tell people that thatJesus can save them.
(17:50):
But you know, I can't donothing.
All I can do is tell you thatthe Bible is true and prove it.
I can prove that the Bible istrue, that I can prove that
you've prayed is as dry.
I can prove there was a flood,a world flood.
I can prove there was a towncalled Sodom and Gomorrah and
God's sending up the flames, youknow.
But that's what I'm trying todo is I'm trying to save those
people that are lost just like Iwas.
(18:11):
I don't judge them.
I love them.
Speaker 1 (18:13):
What is the challenge for you to live day to day,
knowing like what you believeand then knowing what's out
there, because I think I thinkwhen a lot of people kind of
make that crusade, like you'reon, there's a lot that can make
(18:36):
you upset right, because there'sa lot of wrongdoing in the
world, there's a lot ofnegativity in the world and it's
in our faces all the time withhow the media culture is.
What's it like for you, day today, to try to get out of the
world?
What's it like for you, day today, to try to live happy?
Do you try to live happy?
Speaker 2 (18:50):
I try to brother and I'm that's probably my number
one sin is just being consumedwith anger sometimes.
Speaker 1 (19:00):
Right.
Speaker 2 (19:00):
It's like when I get angry, I have this wrath.
It's just uncontrollable.
I like to punch doors, I liketo punch walls, I like to
headbutt stuff, I like to curse,make a total fool out of myself
and I'm very guilty of beingconsumed by anger, and God's
helping me with that.
Speaker 1 (19:22):
How do you bring yourself back though?
Speaker 2 (19:24):
So prayer has been helping a lot.
I mean, that's really theanswer is prayer, of course, the
word of God, the word of Godand prayer, and those are the
most powerful things.
When you catch yourself beingnegative, absolutely.
My wife will catch me beingnegative.
Yeah, sometimes it takes peopleoutside of us and I know I'm
being mad, but then she'll callme out on it and I'm like, okay,
god, now everybody's seeing howmad I am, you know.
(19:47):
And so I got to just workthrough these anger problems.
But, yeah, dude, I get mad andin a lot of my frustration, it
is just what you said it is theworld.
I might be mad at this or that,and it's a little thing.
It might seem like it's alittle thing, but I'm mad at the
world, bro.
I hate the way that the worldis going.
I absolutely hate it.
(20:08):
This tyranny, this destructionof our freedom, this trafficking
of children.
I'm so mad at all this stuff.
Yeah, and, but you got to trustin God that he's gonna do the
right thing.
And here's the thing is like Ihear a lot of people are turned
away from God because because Itry to talk to everybody about
(20:28):
God, now you know.
And so they say, well, yeah, ifthere's a God, he's not doing
very good.
He's not doing very goodbecause there's children being
trafficked, there's people bornwith genetic mutations that
can't live a normal life,there's people get raped, people
get murdered.
We know this.
Okay.
Now let me tell you why thathappens.
That's because of sin, notbecause of God.
(20:51):
If God would have made us towhere we were 100% obedient and
didn't have the choice to sin,our love for God would mean
nothing.
It would mean nothing to him.
God gave us the option to loveeach other or hate each other.
And you can look at the worldand most of it's hate, okay, but
(21:11):
it's the easier emotion to getright, right, right, right.
Yeah, it takes a lot ofreasoning to love thy neighbor.
You know what I mean, Insteadof be jealous of thy neighbor
and want what they have and wantto take from them.
That's a kind of a survivalinstinct.
But God's all about love thyneighbor.
In fact, matthew 27 is the mostimportant thing.
(21:32):
This is Christianity, righthere.
It's love your God with allyour heart and love thy neighbor
with all your heart, like youdo yourself.
Yeah, and so that's whatChristianity is all about Now,
with that being said, god givesus the option to hate each other
.
God gives us the option to kill, traffic, murder, rape, all of
that stuff.
I said, kill and murder, that'sthe same thing.
Speaker 1 (21:51):
Yeah, sure, sure.
Speaker 2 (21:52):
You know what I'm saying.
Yeah, god gives us the optionto do bad.
Don't blame God because there'smurder, rape and all this sin
in the world.
If he doesn't want puppets, hewants free people.
God gives us freedom.
He created us in his image andgave, gives us freedom to act
upon however we want, and mostpeople do turn to hate, most
(22:12):
people do turn to darkness.
It doesn't matter.
Those are still people that wecan.
We can bring back to the line.
Speaker 1 (22:19):
Knowing all that, and like the mission and the
passion that you have forsomething greater than all of us
, how do you approach yourcareer?
How do you approach yourfighting career?
Put God first.
Yeah, glorify the king.
Like how important is fightingto you.
Speaker 2 (22:37):
It's up there, you know it's, it's, I don't know.
Speaker 1 (22:40):
Top five, right, but how you manage that, like, how
do you, you know, when you havethe perspective that you do of
the bigger world, because a lotof times to be successful in a
sport like mixed martial artsyou got to be tunnel vision,
laser focused.
It's so challenging.
How do you manage farming, allthe different things your
(23:02):
passion, your faith, yourspirituality with a sport that's
just really really tough to do,even if that's your only thing
that you're into.
Speaker 2 (23:10):
Well, I guess it starts with a passion for the
sport.
For whatever reason, I juststill have it.
I love.
Yes, I still love.
And really I heard SeanStrickland say this.
He said he loves to train moreand he loves to fight.
That's kind of me.
Training was therapeutical forme.
It is therapeutical for me.
That's before I startedfighting.
(23:31):
I just always loved training.
You know, in martial arts Istarted taekwondo when I was a
kid.
I didn't think I was gonna doUFC, I just liked taekwondo.
You know, I liked wrestling inhigh school, I liked doing
jiu-jitsu tournaments, and thenone day I figured out that my
purpose from God was to fight tothe best of my ability to
(23:52):
praise God in front of everybodythat was watching, because
there's nothing I could do andhave more eyes on me.
Speaker 1 (23:58):
I was gonna say it's quite a platform.
Speaker 2 (24:01):
It's almost like it was intended, like I have a
purpose from God, ain't it?
It's almost like it's not acoincidence.
Yeah, you know I have a purpose.
I know I do.
My mom always told me and Ididn't believe her for a long
time, and now I know she's right.
Mama don't lie, yeah.
Speaker 1 (24:17):
Does she watch?
She don't.
She don't watch none.
Speaker 2 (24:20):
She hates it yeah she hates it.
Speaker 1 (24:22):
Does she still call it MAA?
Speaker 2 (24:23):
She calls it MAA man.
She says it's a devil, thankGod, she don't like it.
Yeah, but you know, she's justa prayer warrior man.
She's praying for my healthright now.
She's just, she's a warrior,I'm a warrior.
Speaker 1 (24:37):
There you go.
You see what I mean.
I got you you certainly arewhat's been the focus of this
training camp as you get back inthere for the first time in a
while.
Speaker 2 (24:49):
Make it to the fight, Not embarrass myself, Bring
shame to my family by having topull out.
You know I've been praying formy health.
I've been training really smart.
I think the good Lord is goingto heal me I don't know that but
I have a good sense that I'mactually going to make it to the
fight and I have to pull outand look like a coward this time
.
You know, I just really didn'tlike having a sign of the
(25:09):
contract saying I'd be there andthen not be in there.
That bothered me.
So this fight.
I'm just praying for my healthand did I make it to the fight?
Speaker 1 (25:17):
Yeah, I know in the past.
So you took 2021 completely off, but you fought twice a year,
pretty much every other yearsince you've been in the UFC.
But what I have heard from fromkid is like you like to become
a different version of yourselfevery time I do.
What is the next version of you, if you care to tell it?
(25:40):
I mean, I don't want to getyour game plan, but like, how
would you describe yourevolution as a fighter?
Speaker 2 (25:50):
Man, I mean, I'm just always adding in technical
stuff.
I mean it just it would comedown to like I've worked on my
wrestling Jiu-Jitsu, my boxing.
Speaker 1 (26:00):
Worked on everything.
Speaker 2 (26:01):
I've worked on everything and it's like to get
into specifics.
It's like I know how muchbetter I am at different things,
but it's just like it's hard toexplain these intricacies.
But you know, I'm better atjabbing, I'm better at not
getting jabbed.
Speaker 1 (26:21):
You know what I?
Speaker 2 (26:22):
mean I'm going to fight more efficiently, and
things like that.
You know, it's just really hardto explain all that stuff and
it's hard to even think like howhave I gotten better?
But it'd take a while becauseI'd have to recap all my
training.
But yeah, I'm working on myspeed, my strength, I mean all
of it.
I think for all of us.
Speaker 1 (26:44):
It's tough to see how far we've come without some
measure of like specific results, right, you know?
It's like how much better of anannouncer am I this year
compared to last year?
I don't know, I just keepshowing up and doing the job,
but you know you're probablybetter.
Speaker 2 (26:58):
Probably better yeah.
Speaker 1 (27:00):
Not getting yelled at .
Speaker 2 (27:02):
Yeah right right, right.
Speaker 1 (27:03):
So it's one of those things, the matchup with Dan Ige
.
So you guys have obviously hadlike some social media history
and you went back and forth onTwitter.
That was a few years ago and Ifeel like it died down and he's
also a man of faith to thehighest degree.
What are your thoughts on DanIge before you get ready to kind
of stare him down and go fighthim?
Speaker 2 (27:21):
I love that guy man.
I love that guy.
I love Hawaii.
I'm sorry for what's going onover there.
There's a Satan right there.
You know that fire wasn't noaccident.
I don't want to get youcentered.
I don't want to get you banned,but I'm just going to tell you
that fire was pure evil.
Okay, there's evil forces atplay here in the world, and I
(27:42):
love Dan Ige.
I respect him.
I really love his coach too.
I respect his coach.
I have nothing bad to say abouthim.
I can look at him and tell heprobably hits pretty hard.
He's a good fighter.
I'm going to watch my mouth.
Speaker 1 (27:58):
It's a great fight.
I think a lot of fans are goingto love to see you guys just
purely compete instead of theextracurricular.
Speaker 2 (28:09):
Yeah, I have nothing bad to say about him.
I just really really like theguy, respect the guy because
he's always giving the glory toGod.
He's just like me.
My heart's out for him.
I've been praying for himbecause of these fires in Hawaii
.
I don't know if he has anyfamily over there in Hawaii, but
I bet he has friends or peoplethat are like that.
Speaker 1 (28:28):
He's from a different island.
I know that because my wife isfrom Hawaii.
I'm not sure his connections toMaui, but I'm sure he knows
people that were caught up andaffected somehow.
Exactly, I've been to Maui andso, yeah, it's been too bad.
Everybody dealing with that,anything else, bryce, what do we
miss?
It seemed like you're in a goodplace.
(28:49):
I got to ask you.
The world is on fire about thefruit trees, bro.
You put out that video and itjust caused such an uproar.
I think a lot of fans are.
You know they want to supportyou and so I'm trying to pass
that.
They already have, bro.
Speaker 2 (29:06):
I'm sitting here today.
I have the fruit trees becauseof the fans.
If it wasn't for the fans, if itwasn't for the USC, if it
wasn't for all these peoplesupporting me, I wouldn't have
no damn fruit trees.
So, man, I'm taking care of it,and I wish I probably shouldn't
have announced it.
That goes back to my anger.
I was so angry when thishappened and I was worried that
something worse was going tohappen, and maybe I shouldn't
(29:29):
have told the world that myplace got vandalized and broke
into.
I was kind of worried that myanimals are going to get
attacked next, my family's goingto get attacked next, and so I
know putting that post out justalerted all my neighbors to pray
for me.
I know my neighbors are prayingfor me and that's probably the
one good thing that came out ofthat post is all the prayers,
(29:51):
and all my neighbors are on highalert now.
But maybe I shouldn't have eventold everybody about that
personal stuff.
I don't know.
I've never had somebody breakinto my house and start
destroying stuff like that.
But hey, man, when you tamperwith darkness, you're going to
pay the price.
(30:11):
Don't tamper with darkness,turn to the light.
Okay, when you tamper withdarkness, it might be three
years later, you're still goingto pay the price because you
tampered with darkness and I'mup to light now.
I worship God, but I'm stillgoing to have to pay for my sins
from three years ago.
So that's what I'm dealing withand shoot.
Thanks for everybody who'spraying for me and cares about
(30:36):
me.
Speaker 1 (30:36):
Well, I know a lot of the MMA fans and UFC fans out
there wish nothing but the bestfor you.
They're big fans of yours andthey're ready to watch your
fight again, and so am I.
Speaker 2 (30:44):
Dude, I'm ready to do it.
Speaker 1 (30:46):
I'll have a headset on.
I'll be on the side of theoctagon.
Speaker 2 (30:49):
Yes, sir.
Speaker 1 (30:50):
I like Danny Gay a lot.
I'm glad to hear that you likeDanny Gay a lot, and I love the
fight.
Speaker 2 (30:54):
If you see anything he's throwing like, let me know,
say it, that's not my job,that'll be Dom Cruise.
Speaker 1 (31:00):
Dom Cruise is good at that, not me.
Thank you very much for sittingwith me this week.
Speaker 2 (31:07):
This thing I always love seeing your Bryce.
Yeah, that was great.
I'm so glad.
Speaker 1 (31:11):
My favorite characters on the whole planet.
Speaker 2 (31:13):
Thank you, brother, there you go.
Speaker 1 (31:16):
Bryce Mitchell on Fits Nation.
Speaker 2 (31:18):
The honor is mine.
Speaker 1 (31:19):
Huge thanks to the one and only Bryce Thug, nasty
Mitchell, for sitting down withme out here in Las Vegas.
It's always great to see himand it should be a great fight
when he takes on Dan Eagate.
Huge thanks to you for checkingout the podcast, whether you
watched or listened.
I hope you check out otherepisodes on UFC Fight Pass.
I do interviews like this withUFC fighters that I believe are
(31:41):
pretty unique compared to a lotof the other interviews that are
out there.
So check out Fits Nation on UFCFight Pass and all the other
great stuff they have there.
You can check out Fits Nationin audio form.
Just search for my namewherever you listen to podcasts,
and also check out some behindthe scenes content on my YouTube
channel.
Just search my name, brennanFitzgerald.
I'll have another one of thesecoming out very soon.
(32:04):
So thanks again for listeningand I'll talk to you next time.
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