UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell’s recent interview with Ariel Helwani has blown up the internet, but his views may not be that surprising.
In what was expected to be a routine pre-fight interview, Mitchell used it to interview the interviewer Helwani. He discussed his thoughts on mass shootings in America, his opposition to the COVID-19 vaccine mandates, and other oft-kilter topics.
While the conversation was largely cordial, Helwani challenged Mitchell when the featherweight questioned the legitimacy of mass shootings and if the US government is responsible for them, along with claiming the 2020 US Presidential Election was rigged.
MMA journalist Luke Thomas, who is an award-winning journalist and a former host of The MMA Hour, touched on Mitchell’s viral interview with Helwani. During a recent segment on his Morning Kombat podcast, Thomas addressed the shockwave that Mitchell caused around the MMA community.
“So what I would say is in this day and age when we’re asked for our views and you’re doing it in a public way and you have a person who is young, very online, on social media, probably doesn’t have views anyway that are even in lockstep with the wider state to some degree, then you’re going to get these kinds of moments when people espouse views that are impossible to otherwise justify,” Thomas said of Mitchell.
Thomas went on to explain why he feels Mitchell’s controversial views may not be as uncommon in the MMA community as some are led to believe.
“I gotta tell you, people were like, ‘This is a shock to my conscience! I can’t believe that someone in the community would hold views such as these!’ I’m like, are you motherfuckers on Twitter for like five seconds? My mentions every day are, fuckin’, ‘Obama drinks the blood of young babies!’ And ‘COVID is a lie! It’s just the flu with a skirt on!’ Or whatever the fuck they say. I don’t even know what they say anymore.
“But my mentions—and not even that, just what I see on different places is filled to the brim with these very online radicalized views. Like, I would argue Bryce Mitchell’s views on this are far closer to what the average person in this community believes than mine. I guarantee that.”
Mitchell is slated to face Edson Barboza at UFC 272 on March 5. He’ll likely be questioned by media members about his views leading up to the fight, and this controversy may be far from over.
What was your reaction to the Bryce Mitchell/Ariel Helwani interview?
