See Patchy Mix reaction to UFC signing, talks debut vs. Mario Bautista
Patchy Mix talks to MMA Junkie and other reporters backstage at UFC Fight Night 256 about news of his signing, his debut vs. Mario Bautista at UFC 316
LAS VEGAS – Patchy Mix is a serious guy, but the smiles snuck through in the hours that followed Saturday’s official announcement of his UFC signing.
“I like this microphone,” grinned Mix, referring to the UFC mic flag as he took the podium to speak with reporters including MMA Junkie at the UFC Apex following UFC Fight Night 256.
Mix, 31, joins the promotion after a departure from PFL, and steps right into the action June 7 when he takes on Mario Bautista at UFC 316 in Newark, N.J. The instant activation is refreshing.
“It sounds (like I’m) just where I belong,” Mix said. “So many years. So many fights as a matter of fact. To finally be here is surreal. But it’s where I belong. … I had to have patience. (There was) a lot of frustration, just not knowing. Obviously, I was going to fight Leandro Higo last year. Everyone knew what I’d do to Leandro Higo. I just wanted to earn some money and stuff and stay active and keep getting better, keep growing. When that fight got pulled, I didn’t know when I’d fight.”
Mix took the alternative path prior to his UFC signing, becoming renowned of one of the sport’s best fighters outside of the sport’s most notable brand. That journey earned him a lot of fruits of his labor, but there’s still one void.
“I have money,” Mix said. “I have belts. I have all this stuff. But I don’t have notoriety and that’s what I’m coming for June 7. I’m coming to show the world who I am.”
Mix expected he’d be thrown into a top-five matchup to start. But when the UFC approached him to fill the vacancy left by an injured Marlon Vera, Mix had no problem obliging.
“You get the call and you answer it,” Mix said. “I’m not afraid of anyone in this division, especially (not) Mario Bautista. He’s on a seven-fight win streak and I want that seven-fight win streak. When they called me, I answered it. I’ll make weight and I’ll get the job done. It didn’t matter who. I didn’t mind if he was ranked No. 1 or No. 50. I would’ve gone against the best, the hardest, the guy they didn’t want anyone to fight. It didn’t matter. It happened to be him and I think ‘Chito’ Vera popped his rib or something. They called me within an hour or two. I was like, ‘Hell yeah.’ Within a day, I think it was getting made.”
While Bautista (15-2 MMA, 9-2 UFC) is in his immediate view, UFC gold is in the distance. The current titleholder Merab Dvalishvili is a longtime training partner, but that doesn’t deter Mix from wanting to capture that championship. He told Dvalishvili (19-4 MMA, 12-2 UFC) as much during a recent conversation.
“I told him as a man that I could be potentially coming over here and that if we did fight, I was hoping it could be for the title down the line,” Mix said. “It’s just business. His dreams are the same dreams I have. My mom, a single mom who raised me and my brothers and sisters back there, she raised me to work my ass off. She raised me since I was a kid. I’m not just doing this for myself. I’m doing this for my family and that title comes with setting your family up for life. It doesn’t matter who is in the way. It doesn’t matter who.”
