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Patchy Mix didn’t have a lot to gain in his rematch against Magomed Magomedov considering he choked out the Russian bantamweight less than two years ago. Still, Mix didn’t blink when that’s the matchup Bellator offered to him but he had to gut out a hard-fought split decision to retain his title in their second encounter in May.
Looking back on the fight, the reigning 135-pound champion admits that he probably approached Magomedov with the wrong strategy while his opponent made exactly the changes necessary to ensure he didn’t suffer another submission loss. That resulted in the perfect storm for Mix to endure a battle through 25 consecutive minutes but in the end, he still got the job done.
“I feel like he studied me pretty decently and came up with a good game plan and I don’t think I fought him necessarily in the correct way,” Mix explained when speaking to MMA Fighting. “I was just trying to walk him down, using standup the entire time. I felt like I should have been going for takedowns more at the beginning of the fight. But I felt like I outstruck him last time so well that I didn’t need to change my game plan.
“So it was good adjustments on his part but I’m glad I could adjust on the fly myself. I’m a submission specialist, just like the first fight I almost choked him out like three times before I strangled him unconscious. He just stayed away from where I’m great at. I’m just going to make some adjustments. I’m not going to let nobody get off the hook no more and just stand with them the whole time. I’m going to mix it up more, force the grappling exchanges. It doesn’t matter who I fight.”
With two wins over Magomedov now, Mix has dispatched one of his biggest remaining challengers on the Bellator roster and it’s possible he’s looking at even more rematches in the future.
While he mentioned veteran Leandro Higo as a potential next opponent after his latest win, Mix knows another top contender is likely Raufeon Stots, who he dispatched with a brutal knockout in just 80 seconds when they clashed back in August 2023.
Mix insists he’ll never turn down a fight if Bellator comes calling and that goes for old foes or new opposition but ideally, he would love to face an entirely different kind of challenge for his next.
The kind of challenge a UFC Hall of Famer would represent.
“Jose Aldo is a free agent,” Mix said. “I saw that he recently finished his deal over there in the UFC. So if he’s going to sign with anyone, I’d love for PFL or Bellator to snatch him up. He just fought a guy at [135 pounds] in Jonathan Martinez and I think I’m a whole different animal than that kid.
“To the legend, much respect, but I think I match up well with him. I don’t think he’s ever been submitted except for maybe his first ever fight. That kind of excites me, something like that.”
At 37, Aldo returned from a brief retirement and dismantled Martinez at UFC 301 in April with that fight serving as the final bout on his current contract with the promotion. Aldo made it clear afterward that he wants to keep fighting but he wasn’t sure exactly what he would do next, especially after dabbling in boxing over the past couple of years.
With the UFC bantamweight title picture rather filled up right now as champion Sean O’Malley prepares to battle Merab Dvalishvili later this year and Cory Sandhagen clashing with Umar Nurmagomedov in a No. 1 contender’s fight in August, Aldo could be at least a year or more from sniffing another shot at gold.
But if he decided to join the roster at Bellator, Aldo could potentially slide right into a title fight against Mix and the reigning champion welcomes that opportunity.
“My mouth waters thinking about that shit,” Mix said. “They need a big fight for that guy. There’s other ones for him but he’s at [135] and outside of his promotion, in the world I am the top ranked bantamweight. Outside of his promotion and inside of his promotion, I believe, but I know for a fact outside of it. I’m the most highly touted guy. So if he’s going to stick to doing MMA and he’s going to go anywhere, I would love to be the guy that welcomes him to the show. It fits. He’s a legend and I respect him.
“This guy paved the road. I remember being in high school watching him fight some of the craziest fights.”
Prior to the split decision against Magomedov in their rematch, Mix had looked unstoppable while rattling off six straight wins including five finishes by knockout or submission. Because his most recent fight was a little too close for comfort, Mix really wants to return to form when he competes again and he couldn’t think of a better person to bring that out of him than Aldo.
“I’m sure he’s chasing big challenges,” Mix said. “He just fought Martinez, who was also on a seven fight win streak himself. He rocked the shit out of Martinez, he did really well. He had a dope ass takedown in the third round, hit the double leg on him. It was a rebrand a coming of age, kind of like reminiscent of the old Jose Aldo at that Rio card. It was cool to watch.
“But I would want to finish that guy. I have such a sour taste in my mouth that I just went to a decision. In that third round, I should have never let go of that guillotine and I should have strangled him unconscious. I’m beating my head in for it.”
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