There’s only one Bryce Mitchell.
“Thug Nasty” suffered perhaps the worst loss of his career at UFC 314, getting overwhelmed and ultimately submitted by Jean Silva (watch here). Between Mitchell’s antics and Silva’s barking, the build up was really intense, only for the result to end up a blowout. With the stakes were especially high, it’s hard to look at the event as anything other than a massive disappointment for the Arkansas native.
For better or worse, you can’t keep “Thug Nasty” down. He was to quick to release a statement after the defeat, and per his Instagram, Mitchell is back to training. What does training look like for the deer strangler? Well, wrestling pigs of course!
“I’m back to trainin,” He wrote. “Y’all shoulda seen the full match. we wrestled this pig bout half an hour. I finally got hooks in and tilted him over. His ground game is legit.”
Mitchell returned to training opposite his porky foe about a week ago, and since then, he’s only ramped up the training. In a video posted Friday, Mitchell goes absolutely wild hacking at a tree stump. Initially, I was impressed by the form and work rate, but then he stands on the tree and starts swinging the axe toward his own feet, and well … you can see how the scrotum power drill incident happened.
He’s far from the first person to use that strategy in cutting the last bits of wood, but is it a wise choice for a professional fighter whose livelihood is those limbs?
For some reason, Mitchell’s wood-chopping post drew the attention of The Fighting Nerds. Middleweight Caio Borralho was the top reply, writing “Is easier when the target don’t move right?” Jean Silva, meanwhile, replied with a GIF of himself blowing a kiss to his former foe.
On a more serious note, Mitchell has struggled with the strength and power of his more elite opponents. He often looks the smaller man, and it’s widely speculated based on trainin insights like these that he doesn’t have much of an organized strength and conditioning program. There’s no doubt that chopping wood is hard work that will get the heart pumping, but it’s not going to build muscle in the way a professional athlete typically aims to do.
Something might have to change if Mitchell is to clear his current plateau. Regardless, who should “Thug Nasty” face next in his eventual UFC return?
This story originally appeared on MMA Mania
