Bryce "Thug Nasty" Mitchell is an American professional mixed martial artist in the UFC featherweight division. He recently started a podcast and he started off with a controversial and distasteful comment regarding WWII.
UFC president, Dana White, has slammed American fighter Bryce Mitchell after the 30-year-old made several anti-semitic, homophobic and transphobic comments during a podcast in which he also praised Adolf Hitler. White appeared visibly angry when speaking to reporters on Thursday, as he addressed the comments made by Mitchell.
"I've heard a lot of dumb and ignorant sh*t in my day, but this one is probably the worst," White said, on behalf of the UFC. "When you talk about Hitler, he was responsible for the death of six million Jews and he tried to completely eliminate a race of people."
He added, "Hitler is one of the most disgusting and evil human beings to ever walk the face of the Earth, and anyone that even tries to take an opposing position is a moron. That's the problem with the internet and social media. You provide a platform for a lot of dumb and ignorant people."
However, despite saying he was, "beyond disgusted" by Mitchell’s comments, White confirmed the UFC wouldn't punish the fighter, citing, "free speech." "That’s the beautiful thing about this business, for all of you that hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his ass whooped on global television," White added.
In a long, rambling podcast, the fighter – known as, "Thug Nasty" – called Hitler a, "good guy" and made a series of homophobic and anti-semitic remarks explaining his beliefs to his co-host that Hitler was actually fighting for Germany’s people. He also denied the Holocaust was real.
"I honestly think Hitler was a good guy based on my own research – not my public education, indoctrination. I really do think before Hitler got on meth, he was a guy I’d go fishing with. He fought for his country. He wanted to purify it by kicking the greedy Jews out that were destroying his country and turning them all into gays," he said.
"They were gaying out the kids, they were queering out the women, they were queering out the dudes. Do you know where the first tranny surgery was? It happened to be in Germany before Hitler took over. Do you know the books that everyone makes fun of Hitler for burning? Do you know what the books was? Queer books. Hitler burned queer books. Hitler didn’t want a bunch of queers destroying his nation. They can’t produce children."
At least one of his sponsors, a clothing brand called The Regenaissance, has already announced that it has withdrawn its affiliation with the fighter.
"His comments do not reflect the intention, ideas, or beliefs of The Regenaissance in any manner on this topic, and due to the nature of these comments we can no longer be affiliated at this time," its founder, Ryan Griggs, said on Instagram.
Mitchell, who has fought in the UFC since 2018 and won his last bout in December, made the comments in the first episode of his new podcast.
Sports journalist, Ariel Helwani, who is known for reporting on mixed martial arts, criticised his comments on X, writing: "Each and every day MMA finds a way to reach a new low. A new way of embarrassing itself and those who are fans of it.
"Nothing will be done, and I don't even care if anything is done. Say what you want. It just continues to baffle me at how unbelievably stupid - not to mention bigoted - some of the people in the sport or associated with the sport can be."
Chael Sonnen admitted he was not fully informed about the situation but felt comfortable enough to comment on the UFC’s reaction to Mitchell’s comments.
"There's a few words that just don't work," Sonnen told MMA Junkie. "I had this talk with my children. There’s a few words that don't work; one of them starts with the letter 'N.' Another one of them starts with the letter 'F,' and you can’t do Nazi and Hitler. You just can't. You can’t make those comparisons; you can't praise."
Sonnen, a Fight Wing UFC Hall of Famer for his part in the UFC 117 title fight against Anderson Silva, recalled an incident in college when he insulted someone using the Nazi label but was scolded by his professor.
"I put somebody down in college," Sonnen explained. "I was insulting a bad person and I used the word Nazi. Somehow, I made a compairison, 'like the Nazis.' That professor kept me after class and he said, 'Do you know who they are?' I said, 'Yeah.' And he was against the guy that I was schooling. I was on the right side of this, and the professor agreed.
"He said, 'You don’t ever compare anybody to them. You don't ever try to tell me somebody’s bad, and compare them to that, because nobody is that.' And it changed me. And if Bryce has never had that talk like I had, and he’s getting it right now from the UFC, I will bet you, much like me, he will learn from it."
Even though the UFC did hand down a punishment to Mitchell, Sonnen firmly believes there will still be repercussions for the 30-year-old featherweight.
"Please understand, there’s a checks and balances for these guys that run their mouth or say something bad or say something that's really offensive," Sonnen said. "There’s no passes. … There’s other things you can do, there's checks and balances. Mark my words, he’s having calls from whatever sponsors he's got, he doesn't have them anymore. In the best case scenario, they all got frozen – in a best case scenario."
"Now, the audience is going to look at him different. Those things don't go away. To pretend that there’s not a punishment, is not true. Do you need big brother to come in and hand him the ultimate ax? That’s a different conversation. There’s different levels to things. There’s criminals out there, but some of them jaywalk, and some of them rob a bank. There’s different levels, and there’s checks and balances for all of them. So please, let’s not pretend that Bryce has got away with something here. He most definitely did not."
Conor McGregor has posted a lengthy message on social media in response to Bryce Mitchell's controversial Adolf Hitler claim. On X, he wrote: "Saying a prayer for my God fearing brother Bryce Mitchell tonight who I know is a good man. Let this be acknowledgement/confirmation of the rise in antisemitic commentary, as well as all sorts of other bullsh*t, phobic, racist commentary, that spreads feverishly and instantly across the world wide web where we, as curious beings, are brainwashed into all sorts of thinking. For what ? For one reason and one reason only. Human division.We say NO!"
"All Nations and their people deserve freedom! Humans under God deserve Peace and Freedom and I, like Jesus did for us, would give my heart, body and soul for it! From Palestine to Jerusalem, Israel to Ukraine, Germany to Africa! Russia to Ireland to England to America to Iran. Egypt. Sweden! FREEDOM!"
"Peace in the mother f**king world because F**K THESE ROBOTS, WE ARE HUMAN! HUMANS UNDER GOD FOR THE WIN! GOD SAYS DONT HARM HIS CHILDREN SO NOW NEVER NO MORE! Please God, earth! Let’s go! We have got this! PEACE PEACE FROM, THE CHAMP CHAMP."
Sean Strickland has been slammed by UFC fans for his controversial take on Bryce Mitchell's Adolf Hitler claim. Strickland, who returns to action next weekend when he faces UFC middleweight champion Dricus Du Plessis at UFC 312, took to social media in the wake of Mitchell's Hitler comments.
He referenced the ongoing conflict in the Middle East and Donald Trump's presidential election campaign. On X, he wrote: "Not defending Bryce but! For the last year we have been watching bloody kids, dead kids, missing limbs being pulled out of rubble from Isreali [sic] bombs. We have been being forced fed that Americans are to blame for these. The truth is complex and grey. Hostage, generation's of hate on both sides. We can sit here for hours arguing about cause and who is right and wrong."
"Bryce is a product of being on the internet too much. Nothing more Nothingless.
"I've been at a trump rally thinking 'wow this feels like a Hitler speech' it is brain washing. Find a enemy, attack the enemy rally the people around the enemy. There is a reason why he rallied millions of people to do evil acts. Hate and fear is the easiest way to get people to march in the direction you want."
"Bottom line you don't fix hate with hate. In America or the world. Bryce is a product of the internet."
Bryce Mitchell has since apologised on Saturday for his comments defending Adolf Hitler on his podcast earlier this week. "I'm sorry I sounded offensive," Mitchell posted on his Instagram account. "I definitely was not trying to offend anybody, but I know I did."
"I know a lot of people died in the Holocaust, and that's a fact," Mitchell wrote. "Hitler did a lot of evil things, I think we can all agree on that. I'm definitely not a nazi, and definitely do not condone any of the evil things Hitler did." Mitchell also added a caption to his post: "In the future I will b[e] much more considerate [when] talking about the suffering of all peoples."
Mitchell has yet to be booked for another UFC fight.
Being Jewish, I am truly digusted by this. Both writing and reading this piece makes me sick. I feel like vomiting. I am appalled that he's facing no punishment. Comments like these should be punished to the fullest letter of the law. They shouldn't see the light of day ever again.