Thug Nasty Gets Topuria At UFC 282

Bryce Mitchell officially has a new opponent.

Fight Bananas reported over the weekend (Oct. 22, 2022) that a Featherweight match up between Mitchell (15-0) and Ilia Topuria (12-0) has been added to UFC 282 on Dec. 10, 2022, in Las Vegas, Nevada. MMA Fighting confirmed the report today (Mon., Oct. 24, 2022).

Mitchell was originally set to headline his first UFC event opposite Movsar Evloev at UFC Vegas 64 in two weeks (Sat., Nov. 5, 2022). Unfortunately, Evloev suffered an injury and the bout was scrapped, resulting in top Strawweight contenders, Marina Rodriguez and Amanda Lemos, getting promoted to the main event.

Someone’s zero will have to go in Micthell versus Topuria. For “Thug Nasty,” he’ll enter the contest on the heels of his biggest career win, dominating Edson Barboza en route to a unanimous decision at UFC 272 in March 2022. Topuria, on the other hand, last took out Jai Herbert via a nasty second round knockout (watch highlights) at UFC London in that same month.

While Topuria’s last time out came at Lightweight, he always intended on trying to climb the ladder at Featherweight, and a big win over the No. 9-ranked Mitchell would certainly help him do that.

Check out the current UFC 282 lineup below:

• 205lbs.: (C)Jiri Prochazka vs. Glover Teixeira
• 145lbs.: Bryce Mitchell vs. Ilia Topuria
• 170lbs.: Robbie Lawler vs. Santiago Ponzinibbio
• 185lbs.: Edmen Shahbazyan vs. Dalcha Lungiambula
• 145lbs.: Billy Quarantillo vs. Alexander Hernandez
• 145lbs.: T.J. Brown vs. Erik Silva
• 185lbs.: Dricus du Plessis vs. Darren Till
• 265lbs.: Jairzinho Rozenstruik vs. Chris Daukaus
• 185lbs.: Chris Curtis vs. Joaquin Buckley
• 125lbs.: Daniel da Silva vs. Vinicius Salvador
• 155lbs.: Paddy Pimblett vs. Jared Gordon
• 135lbs.: Cameron Saaiman vs. Ronnie Lawrence
• 205lbs.: Ovince Saint Preux vs. Alexander Gustafsson
• 205lbs.: Jan Blachowicz vs. Magomed Ankalaev