Patchy Mix’s former training partner reveals key lesson from disappointing debut ahead of UFC 320 return

Patchy Mix has a lot to live up to in his second UFC outing this weekend.

There was a lot of hype surrounding Mix’s signing to the UFC as a fighter that has been considered to be one of the top bantamweights in the world.

The 32-year-old produced a stunning run in Bellator, but he wasn’t able to carry this momentum into the Octagon this past June.

Mix was heavily criticized after being beaten by Mario Bautista at UFC 316 several months ago.

A fighter who has trained with him in the past believes that there were several key factors that impacted the debutant’s performance.

LATEST NEWS: What Alex Pereira said to Magomed Ankalaev during their tense UFC 320 face-offStephen Clancy Simmons says Mario Bautista was able to thwart Patchy Mix’s specialist skillset At UFC 320, Patchy Mix returns to face Jakub Wiklacz in a bantamweight clash on the prelims.

Having trained with him in Las Vegas earlier this year, Bloody Elbow spoke to highly-regarded amateur fighter Stephen Clancy Simmons about what he made of the former Bellator star’s debut.

Mix’s weight cut has been a talking point regarding his performance because the opportunity to fight at UFC 316 came together on short notice.

While Clancy Simmons did acknowledge this, he also suggested that it might have been too easy for Mario Bautista to prepare for and counter his opponent’s game plan.

We’ve seen Mix be a very effective striker in the past, but that simply wasn’t on show last time out.

With him being unable to close the distance and implement his grappling, this led to the debuting fighter looking somewhat lost.

“He took the fight on short notice. I think there was weight. There’s no excuses but I think, as well, when you come to the UFC, you need to be unreal everywhere,” Clancy Simmons added. “I think he [Bautista] knew that he [Mix] was going to really try and use his jiu-jitsu and his wrestling so he just stayed away from him and struck.”

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Photo by Ed Mulholland/Zuffa LLCPatchy Mix now finds himself welcoming another exciting bantamweight to the UFCAfter having the pressure of a UFC debut hanging over him last time out, Patchy Mix’s role will be reversed this weekend at UFC 320.

He’s set to welcome 29-year-old bantamweight newcomer Jakub Wiklacz to the Octagon in Las Vegas.

With a pro record of 16-3-2, the Polish fighter is the former KSW bantamweight champion, who is unbeaten in his last seven outings.

Crucially for this matchup, Wiklacz has only ever been submitted once in his pro career, having been defeated by a heel hook in 2016.