Bryce Mitchell Learned Twister Submission from Watching Eddie Bravo on YouTube

UFC HISTORY

@ThugnastyMMA records the second twister EVER in the Octagon!

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— UFC (@ufc) December 8, 2019

These days one can learn pretty much anything by watching YouTube, including rarely-seen mixed martial arts submissions.

Bryce Mitchell pulled off only the second twister in Ultimate Fighting Championship history on Saturday, as he tapped Matt Sayles with the maneuver 4:20 into the opening stanza at UFC on ESPN 7 in Washington, D.C. “Thug Nasty” says he initially picked up the move through observation.

“I’m a huge (10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu founder) Eddie Bravo fan and I got that from YouTube,” Mitchell said after the fight. “I worked so hard for this fight, I almost knew for sure that I was going to get him out of there.

“When I got a hold of Matt, I knew he was working every time he moved. I just had to be patient, you can’t go too early before they’re ready. Coach calls it cooking it, you gotta cook them to the bone. You don’t put meat on the grill and take it off right away, so I knew I had to take my time.”

Mitchell joined Chan Sung Jung as the only athletes to execute the Twister in UFC competition and in doing so improved to 12-0 in his professional career. That mark includes a trio of triumphs in the promotion, but Mitchell says he felt stronger heading into the matchup with Sayles than he did for victories over Bobby Moffett and Tyler Diamond.

It certainly showed in the result.

“In my last two fights, I’ve given up 11 pounds and 15 pounds, so I hired a nutritionist, I put weight on and I knew I could go out there and put on a performance like that. When I fought those other guys, it was a huge deal how much stronger and bigger they felt,” he said.