Bryce Mitchell is an Arkansas native who built his UFC career on a grappling-heavy style that sets him apart from the majority of professional mixed martial artists. After competing in the UFC featherweight division, Mitchell dropped to bantamweight and made his debut in the new weight class on July 26, 2025 at UFC Abu Dhabi, where he defeated Said Nurmagomedov. The weight class transition came paired with a renewed commitment to submission grappling competition — a natural extension of the ground-game identity that has defined his career from the start.

Eddie Bravo, founder of 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu, highlighted Mitchell on The Grapplers Perspective Podcast as a rare UFC-level competitor who rolls with everyone in the room regardless of reputation risk. Bravo described Mitchell as "super legit" on the ground, noting that he trains with 10th Planet's toughest students without hesitation — an open-mat mentality uncommon among fighters at his professional level. That willingness to test himself across all training environments has earned Mitchell genuine credibility within the grappling community, independent of his MMA profile.

EBI 25 and Competitive Pursuits

Mitchell approaches submission grappling competition with the same seriousness he brings to MMA. He entered Eddie Bravo Invitational 25, held on September 12, 2025 in San Antonio, competing in a field that included Gianni Grippo, Keith Krikorian, and Ethan Crelinsten. Mitchell advanced through the bracket before falling to 19-year-old Landon Elmore in the semifinal — a result that underscored both his willingness to compete against elite no-gi grapplers and the exceptional depth of talent within the EBI format.

Withdrawals and Public Disputes

Not all of Mitchell's planned grappling appearances reached the mat. In February 2025, he withdrew from Pit Submission Series 12, publicly accusing Karate Combat of altering promotional images to make him appear feminine. He also withdrew from a scheduled match against Ilay Barzilay, citing similar concerns about doctored imagery on the event poster. While contentious, these withdrawals reflect Mitchell's vocal stance on how he is represented publicly — consistent with the outspoken personal brand he has cultivated across his MMA career and social media presence.

Mitchell's association with 10th Planet Jiu-Jitsu places him within Eddie Bravo's no-gi grappling system — a framework built around unorthodox positions, rubber guard, and submission chains rarely found in traditional Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu curricula. His standing within that community was illustrated on January 6, 2025, when he was filmed presenting Bravo with a novel Twister entry — a sequence Bravo stated he had not previously encountered. Given Bravo's decades of experience developing and refining the Twister as a signature submission of the 10th Planet system, Mitchell's contribution represented a meaningful moment of technical exchange between practitioner and system founder.

Bravo's repeated public endorsements of Mitchell's ground game carry genuine weight in no-gi grappling circles. The rank-agnostic training culture Bravo described — Mitchell rolling with whoever is on the mat regardless of level — aligns directly with the open-floor philosophy that 10th Planet gyms have long championed, reinforcing Mitchell's reputation as a practitioner who backs his credibility with consistent action.

Opening the Gym

As of early March 2026, Mitchell opened his own dojo in Arkansas, expanding his grappling involvement from competition and training into gym ownership and community development. The facility's name had not been publicly specified in available sources at the time of the opening. The move marked a meaningful transition in Mitchell's trajectory — from a competitor who trains to one who actively shapes the training environment for others in his home state.

Standards of Conduct

From the outset, Mitchell articulated a clear and direct stance on conduct within his gym. Recounting an experience from the early days of the dojo in which he trained with a high school female wrestler, he stated that anyone acting inappropriately toward a training partner would face immediate consequences: "If I saw anybody trying to do anything funky to this girl in my gym, dude, I would bury them." His broader message framed misconduct as a community-wide problem demanding collective accountability: "We don't want perverts in the sport. We got to hold each other accountable."

On episode 15 of his podcast ArkanSanity, published around early March 2026, Mitchell addressed sexual assault allegations in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and shared his perspective on mixed-gender training environments — drawing a careful distinction between personal training preferences and a general position on women's participation in the sport.

Mitchell affirmed without reservation that he supports women training jiu-jitsu: "I sure would [let a daughter train]. I have no problem with girls training jiu-jitsu. I mean, it's awesome." On the question of mixed-gender training specifically, he described a personal practice of not initiating rounds with female practitioners, framing it around his training needs as a male professional fighter: "I don't even go up to girls and ask for rounds. I really don't. I'm a male and I need to train against other males." He was clear that this reflected his individual approach rather than a prescription for others, and he acknowledged that predatory behavior exists in BJJ as it does across other sports and communities. Throughout the episode, he returned consistently to the theme of accountability — positioning gym owners and training partners as the first line of defense against misconduct within the sport.