Rivalries: Patrick Mix

Bellator MMA bantamweight champion Patrick Mix now has legitimate claim as the sport’s premier competitor at 135 pounds.

The 30-year-old Angola, New York, native enters his 2024 campaign with a 19-1 record and considerable momentum, as he has rattled off six consecutive victories. Like other top-flight talents of his ilk, the Xtreme Couture-trained Brazilian jiu-jitsu black belt stands to benefit from the Bellator-Professional Fighters League merger through fresh matchmaking and potential access to million-dollar paydays. Mix boasts 15 finishes among his 19 professional wins, 13 of them via submission.

As Mix awaits word from his new employer regarding his next move, a look at a few of the rivalries that have helped chart his course to this point:

Andre Ewell

Mix took his pound of flesh from the regional circuit when he dismissed the Apex MMA rep with a first-round rear-naked choke and captured the vacant King of the Cage bantamweight championship in the KOTC “Ultimate Mix” headliner on Nov. 18, 2017 at the Seneca Allegany Casino in Salamanca, New York. Ewell conceded defeat 2:28 into Round 1. Mix bullied his way into the clinch, secured a takedown inside the first 30 seconds and went to work. He floated to the back, consolidated his position with a body triangle and turned up the heat with ground-and-pound. By then, it had become clear Ewell was out of his depth. Mix eventually cinched the choke, readjusted his grip and prompted the tapout. He made two successful title defenses, then flew the KOTC nest for Bellator.

Juan Archuleta

“The Spaniard” handed Mix what remains his only professional defeat and exited the cage with the vacant Bellator MMA bantamweight crown with a five-round unanimous decision in the Bellator 246 main event on Sept. 12, 2020 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, Connecticut. Scores were 48-47, 48-47 and 49-46. Mix started strong, as he kept the Joe Stevenson protégé off-balance with takedowns and a hyperactive submission game for much of the first 10 minutes. However, Archuleta made the necessary adjustments across the final three rounds, managed to stay on his feet and racked up points with punches to the head and body. Mix never again rediscovered the magic and saw his chance at a major mixed martial arts championship slip through his capable fingers.

Kyoji Horiguchi

Mix cleared a massive hurdle in the Bellator MMA bantamweight grand prix quarterfinals when he outpointed the American Top Team ace to a unanimous decision at Bellator 279 on April 23, 2022 inside the Neil S. Blaisdell Center in Honolulu. All three cageside judges scored it 49-48. Both men suffered significant cuts, Mix courtesy of an inadvertent clash of heads, Horiguchi due to a clean knee strike. Adversity shook neither of them. Horiguchi, to no one’s surprise, excelled in the standup exchanges, but there were too few of them to make up the difference elsewhere. Mix maximized his size advantage in the grappling department and did so to particular effect in the first round, where he completed a takedown, progressed to the Japanese star’s back and threatened with chokes. He grounded Horiguchi at various other points in the match, doing enough in the judges’ eyes to warrant their favor. Mix followed up with back-to-back finishes of Magomed Magomedov and Raufeon Stots to win the eight-man tournament, along with the interim Bellator bantamweight championship.

Sergio Pettis

Mix finished his climb to the top of the mountain and unified the Bellator MMA bantamweight title when he vanquished the Roufusport mainstay with a rear-naked choke in the second round of their Bellator 301 co-main event on Nov. 17, 2023 at Wintrust Arena in Chicago. Pettis checked out 1:51 into Round 2, suffering his first setback in nearly five years. Mix set the tone with a first-round landslide, as he brought the Milwaukee native to the to the mat and went about exploiting his weaknesses there. Pettis managed to survive, but his situation only deteriorated. Mix wheeled behind him in the second round, pushed away from the fence and forced the action back to the ground. He then deftly trapped Pettis’ right arm with his leg and zeroed in on the neck. Soon, the choke was in place and Mix was undisputed champion.