Bryce Mitchell needs an opponent for the UFC Fight Night 214 main event in early November. Damon Jackson knows a guy.
That guy, Jackson said, is him.
Jackson (22-4-1 MMA, 5-1 UFC) on Friday posted a video on Twitter in which he lobbied for the spot in the headliner against Mitchell (15-0 MMA, 6-0 UFC), whose original opponent, Movsar Evloev, pulled out of the Nov. 5 card with an injury.
Mitchell said Dan Ige is going to fight Ilia Topuria because Topuria can’t make featherweight for a matchup with Mitchell, so he wants the Mitchell fight on short notice.
“So apparently Dan Ige and Ilia Topuria are fighting because Ilia can’t make weight for the Mitchell fight, and it’s like I’m sitting here begging for the damn fight. Just so everybody knows, I am begging for the fight,” Jackson said in his video post. “I’m thinking, who else is begging to take a fight on a one-week or two-week notice? Who the hell else is doing this? I’m just trying to fight one more time this year, and I want a ranked opponent. I want someone in the top 10, someone in the top 15, and it’s like, this is my opportunity to step in and I’m ready to go, Bryce Mitchell. I’m more country than you. I want the fight, man. Give me the fight.”
So @Topuriailia is fighting @Dynamitedan808 and I am begging for the @ThugnastyMMA match up, and no one else can make weight @ufc give me a shot 🤜👊💪 pic.twitter.com/RjjqbNvCBt
— Damon Jackson (@damonbjackson) October 21, 2022
Jackson has won four straight fights since a first-round knockout loss to Topuria in December 2020. After an October 2021 win over Charles Rosa, Jackson has gone 3-0 in 2022 with a submission of Kamuela Kirk, decision over Daniel Argueta and a 69-second TKO of Pat Sabatini in September that won a $50,000 Performance of the Night bonus.
Mitchell was set to headline a UFC card for the first time against Evloev. He’s a perfect 6-0 in the UFC after Season 27 of “The Ultimate Fighter,” which got him his start in the promotion. His three most recent wins have been decisions over Rosa, Andre Fili and Edson Barboza, the latter of which came in March after a layoff of about 16 months.
