‘Thug Nasty’ To The Rescue! Mitchell Fights Emmett At UFC 296

Bryce Mitchell is set to save the day at UFC 296 in Las Vegas next weekend (Sat., Dec. 16, 2023).

Josh Emmett (18-4) won’t be left without an opponent after his original match up with Giga Chikadze fell through after Chikadze recently tore his groin. UFC announced today (Weds., Dec. 6, 2023) that Mitchell (16-1) will replace the Georgian striker in a Featherweight clash with the veteran, Emmett.

Mitchell, 29, last competed against Dan Ige, where he won a unanimous decision to get back in the win column at UFC Vegas 79 in September 2023. The bout was Mitchell’s first since his lone career loss in a rough second round arm-triangle choke defeat to Ilia Topuria at UFC 282 in December 2022 (watch highlights).

The bout gives Emmett, 38, the opportunity to snap the first losing streak of his 22-fight career after back-to-back defeats against Yair Rodriguez and Topuria.

The full UFC 296 line up can be seen below.

• 170 lbs.: (C)Leon Edwards vs. Colby Covington
• 125 lbs.: (C)Alexandre Pantoja vs. Brandon Royval
• 170 lbs.: Stephen Thompson vs Shavkat Rakhmonov
• 155 lbs.: Tony Ferguson vs. Paddy Pimblett
• 170 lbs.: Vicente Luque vs. Ian Garry
• 125 lbs.: Tagir Ulanbekov vs. Cody Durden
• 125 lbs.: Ariane Lipski vs. Casey O’Neill
• 135 lbs.: Irene Aldana vs. Karol Rosa
• 170 lbs.: Randy Brown vs. Muslim Salikhov
• 205 lbs.: Dustin Jacoby vs. Alonzo Menifield
• 135 lbs.: Cody Garbrandt vs. Brian Kelleher
• 145 lbs.: Josh Emmett vs. Bryce Mitchell
• 265 lbs.: Martin Buday vs. Shamil Gaziev
• 145 lbs.: Lucas Almeida vs. Andre Fili