Mario Bautista has responded to Patchy Mix calling him a ‘journeyman’ ahead of UFC 316.
This Saturday, the #10 UFC Bantamweight contender will look to defend his ranking against highly-touted debutant Patchy Mix on the same card Merab Dvalishvili fights Sean O’Malley for the world title.
Mix (20-1) is the final Bellator bantamweight champion and carries wins over former world champions Sergio Pettis, Raufeon Stots and Kyoji Horiguchi.
Mix is talking a big game ahead of his UFC debut at UFC 316, recently criticizing Bautista as a ‘journeyman fighter’. Mix also claimed he’ll submit Mario Bautista and his entire team.
Bautista isn’t much of a trash talker himself but he wouldn’t let Mix’s comments slide.
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‘Coming from a guy that was fighting outside the UFC’ … Mario Bautista on Patchy Mix
Coming off a controversial decision win over former champion Jose Aldo at UFC 307, Bautista is riding a seven-fight win streak in the UFC and is 9-2 in the Octagon overall.
Bautista responded to Mix’s ‘journeyman’ jibe in an interview with Home of Fight.
“I mean, that’s coming from a guy that was fighting outside the UFC for so long,” Bautista said of Mix.
“He has to say whatever he has to say. He has to sell himself, especially if this fight doesn’t go good for him.
“You ruin that debut, you gotta sell yourself to make yourself more marketable afterwards.”
“If he thinks I’m easy to choke out…” Mix continued.
“If I have to say anything, I don’t think his striking is that great either. So, we’ll see if he can even get me [to the ground]. And if not, it’s gonna be a long night for him.”
Patchy Mix almost lost Bellator title before joining UFC
Aside from a decision loss to former Bellator and RIZIN champ Juan Archuleta in 2020, Mix has kept his MMA record spotless.
Like Bautista, Mix is also on a seven-fight win streak. Mix nearly had his streak snapped in his final Bellator appearance, a closely-contested title defense against Magomed Magomedov in May 2024.
Mix had submitted Magomedov before in 2022 but the rematch couldn’t have gone more differently as Magomedov gave the Bellator champion a run for his money across five rounds.
Mix defeated Magomedov in a controversial split decision, with many fans scoring the fight for Magomedov. There’s an argument Magomedov won 3 to 5 rounds against Mix, but two judges didn’t see it that way, instead giving Mix three rounds to two.