First Things First

The UFC has done its best to scoop up the vast majority of the talent in MMA. That doesn’t mean they can create good fighters, nor does it means they have all of the best ones. Today we’re going to analyze who I believe is one of the best fighters outside of the UFC. They might even be better than every fighter that the UFC has at 135.

The Best Fighter Outside Of The UFC

Bellator’s bantamweight champion, Patchy Mix, might be the best fighter outside of the UFC. He might be better than all of the UFC’s bantamweights as well.

The destructive grappler is 19-1 with a 79% finish rate. His last three dominant finishes tell us he’s only getting more dangerous.

Because Mix competes outside of the UFC he’s flying under the radar a bit. He’s defending his title tomorrow in Bellator, so today I want to review how he fights. It’s straightforward, simple, and almost no one has been able to stop it.

Mix is a huge bantamweight. He makes good use of his size by thudding in long kicks at range. This creates a trilemma for his opponents to respond to. When Mix starts kicking and corralling, opponents can either:

1. Sit outside, trade strikes, and take the punishment

2. Move backwards after getting hit and hurt

3. Come forward

Mix has a solution for these three answers as well.

If an opponent elects to stay outside, Mix is so long he can hit people where they can’t return fire. If they move back out of his range, they run into the fence. There he can shoot or move into the clinch and start wrestling to their back. If they rush forward to avoid the fence, he either drills them with knees, snaps on a front headlock, or accepts the clinch and, again, wrestles to their back.

You’re fucked if you do and fucked if you don’t. Let’s look at how this simple strategy turns into highlight reel finishes.

Cage Cutting And Corralling With Strikes

On the outside Mix mainly swats at punches and slams in kicks of his own. Most fighters will give ground to Mix as he kicks. That is not a formula for success.

Mix is a good wrestler and he does his best work on the fence. There he can shuck to the back, pull out his opponent’s legs, and put his size to use.

Mix has been using this strategy since he debuted in Bellator.

If fighters rush into clinches before Mix works them to the fence, his wrestling can take them back to the cage.

So, we’ve seen what happens when fighters stay on the outside with Mix. He herds them to the fence to start his wrestling. Now let’s look at how Mix punishes people trying to get inside.

Rushing Into Knees

Because of Mix’s length he throws a lot of hard knees when people come forward. This can wind them, stop their momentum, and even finish the fight.

Mix used these knees to pick up his viral interim championship win.

I’m not going to pretend that Mix’s knee is like the dim mak. It’s not an instant finish every time he lifts his leg.

Sometimes fighters are able to shoot in on Mix’s hips after he kicks or knees, giving them a considerably easier takedown. Unfortunately for them, that plays right into Mix’s offense as well.

Front Head Locks

Mix has a punishing guillotine. He’ll use it to get up, sweep, and submit fighters. So, even when fighters do get past his long kicks and hard knees, he can simply wrap up their head to reclaim the momentum.

Later in Mix’s fight with Magomedov, this guillotine counter earned him another highlight reel finish.

It’s not always a counterattack. Mix does go for the guillotine proactively as well.

Mix’s primary threats and points of control come from him wrestling behind his opponents.

Wrestling To His Best Work

Mix generally is not a fighter that drops on leg attacks, plants his opponents, and works to pass guard. Instead he shoots, gets an upper body clinch, and works to the back, or lets them turn to give up position.

Here we see Mix using feints and foot work to get his opponent to the fence before wrestling behind them.

Mix has been labeled a backpacker in some of his fights. In particular, most of Mix’s control against Horiguchi had him holding the smaller fighter with back mount and body triangles. Since the Horiguchi fight, Mix has added a brilliant new tool to his back mount arsenal; straight jacket control.

Below is a quick highlight on the straight jacket’s points of control.

The straight jacket gained popularity through John Danaher’s students’ competitive success. You can read more about the straight jacket specifically here.

Mix has trained with Danaher’s standout student Garry Tonon in the past. He also recently mentioned working with former Danaher student and B-Team standout Damian Anderson. You have to think those training sessions helped lead to this finish.

What’s Left?

Mix’s game is all killer no filler. Simple, straightforward, and everything is designed to funnel you towards a place he can finish you. Mix looks like a big fish that just outgrew his small pond.

Tomorrow Mix takes on Magomed Magomedov, a great fighter that he’s already beat. There’s really no matches left for him in Bellator, except, maybe, a rematch with the man that holds his one loss, former champion Juan Archuleta.

Mix has shown interest in moving up to featherweight. That, fighting Rizin bantamweight Kai Asakura, or moving to the UFC are really the only things that make sense for him now.

I’ll be watching his next fight tomorrow to see what new tools he has brought to his game. Come back here Tuesday to read about the best action from the weekend.

Citations & Further Viewing

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