Bryce Mitchell, UFC’s rising star and fan favorite, calls his UFC 296 bout career-defining after turning to Christianity four years ago, crediting faith for his discipline, prosperity, and recent marriage—expecting their first child, Tucker James, in four months. Raised outside mainstream culture, he rejects vaccinations and plans to homeschool, framing modern society as "demonic." His fight against Josh Emmett, a 145-pound division powerhouse, comes after brutal weight-cutting (losing 15 pounds in two days) and a strict diet of raw eggs and water. Mitchell’s confidence stems from divine calling, not fear, vowing to secure his family’s future while urging prayers for all fighters’ safety. [Automatically generated summary]
When he's in fifth grade and all the other boys realize what his first name rhymes with, that's the moment where he's going to become a tough little dude.
unidentified
Oh, brother, he's going to be tough.
He's not going to go to school.
He's going to be homeschooled, brother.
And that just brings us to a great point here because I'm going to completely homeschool him.
I'm going to raise him against this culture because this culture is destructive.
If you'd said that to me 10 years ago, I would have thought to myself, this Bryce Mitchell's a little off-grid, and now I'm thinking you're on the leading edge of what will be obvious to everybody in five years, which is this is not good, and don't expose your kids to it.
That's incredible.
So four months from now, she gives birth to your first son.
Well, there's really nothing better than a good woman, I will say, since I'm married to one.
I know.
Sue, at the end of your last fight, you held the Bible aloft.
That was, I mean, the fight was amazing.
The statement that you made after the fight was every bit as amazing.
Tell us what you said and why you said it.
unidentified
Well, I held up the Bible and I yelled freedom.
And the reason I did that is because nothing has set me free like Jesus Christ.
And I know that sounds like a contradiction to people who do not worship Jesus Christ because you look at Christianity and you say, okay, well, now these people, these Christians, they have to live by rules.
And you would think that the rules make you enslaved.
But let me tell you the truth.
Your sin...
Is what you are a slave to.
Your sin will enslave you.
And only Jesus Christ, focusing on something much more important than yourself, will set you free from that sin.
And of course, Jesus has a list of rules that you need to live by.
But those rules lead to your prosperity.
They will give you the freedom if you live by those rules.
And so I wanted to let people know that Christianity has set me free.
What was the moment when you realized that was true?
unidentified
Well, I basically instantly realized it when I became a Christian.
Now, when I decided I was going to hold up the Bible, that was because I took a really bad loss, and I was deep in prayer, and I was telling God, I said to God, I said, I trust you.
I don't know why I just took that loss.
I don't know why.
And it was a miserable loss.
I looked pathetic out there.
I just didn't fight good.
I was sick, didn't fight good.
Anyways, I'll get to redeem myself.
But the point is, As I talked to God and I said, God, how can I show these people off of a lost that I trust you more?
Wisdom, discernment, I feel like God is definitely helping guide me, and there's just no other explanation for how I get in this chair in the first place other than giving my life to Christ.
unidentified
After I gave my life to Christ, these opportunities started presenting themselves.
When you, and I, because I know you, and I know that you're not just putting on some persona for TV, that you're likens in person completely.
You're the same on camera as you are off.
That's my read anyway.
So I know that you talk like this in the gym when you're practicing and with, you know, your fellow fighters outside the octagon.
How do they respond?
unidentified
Well, everybody's a little bit different, but when I'm in the gym with fighters, and really anybody in the gym, because actually when you go to MMA gym, there's more non-fighters than there are fighters.
And my goal going into an MMA gym is always to make these people not realize that I'm a fighter.
I don't want them to even think that guy's a fighter.
I want to behave so friendly to these people and so loving to these people that they imagine, how could that guy go into a cage and hurt somebody?
That's what I really liked to do when I met gyms, and I very rarely had any problems in the gym, and all the problems that I've had in the gyms, I think, are to other people's fault.
You starve yourself to the point of exhaustion, and then you dehydrate yourself to the point of near death, and then you have 24 hours to replenish before a fight.
And I know if you've never done the MMA, it sounds really stupid.
Why would you do that before a fight?
Well, the reason is because if I don't do that, then I have to fight a guy who's literally 20 pounds bigger than me.