For Ilay Barzilay, his planned grappling match against Bryce Mitchell, initially set for Karate Combat 53 but later called off, was far from a publicity stunt.
The 23-year-old Israeli prospect was eager to confront Mitchell after the UFC featherweight made disturbing remarks on his podcast, defending Adolf Hitler and falsely claiming the Holocaust was fabricated. UFC CEO Dana White publicly condemned Mitchell’s statements as “beyond disgusting” and “the dumbest and most ignorant” things he had ever heard.
Barzilay quickly responded on Instagram, criticizing Mitchell’s comments, which caught the attention of Karate Combat. However, plans for their grappling contest last Friday were derailed when Mitchell scheduled a fight against Jean Silva at UFC 314 in Miami this April.
“I only had a week’s notice for this fight,” Barzilay told MMA Fighting. “I trained incredibly hard that week. I significantly improved my grappling because I was determined to perform well. I wanted to defeat him. My goal was to beat him and submit him. I invested a lot of effort into it. Now everything is disrupted. I feel disappointed, angry, it’s a mix of emotions.”
While Mitchell is not the first public figure to express offensive views about the Holocaust, Barzilay saw this as an opportunity to hold him accountable.
Mitchell’s statements sparked outrage among many, but for Barzilay, they were deeply personal, fueling his resolve to seek retribution on the mat.
“He made truly awful statements,” Barzilay explained. “My grandmother is a Holocaust survivor, and my grandfather lost his entire family in the Holocaust. His words are personal to me. I lost family because of the Holocaust. My grandmother is still alive and shares her Holocaust experiences with me. His remarks were hurtful, and I took them very personally.”
Upon learning of Mitchell’s withdrawal from their grappling match, Barzilay was understandably heartbroken and let down. A potential silver lining is that Barzilay might still find satisfaction through his friend and training partner, Silva. Barzilay trains with Silva at the Fighting Nerds team in Brazil.
Although Barzilay believes Mitchell could have participated in both the grappling match and the UFC fight in April, he is confident that Silva will make Mitchell pay for his words.
“For Jean, this is an easy path to the top 15,” Barzilay stated. “Jean is a future champion. I haven’t trained with anyone at Jean’s level in this weight class. He’s on another level. He will defeat Bryce easily.”
“Perhaps the UFC disapproved of [him doing the grappling match]. That’s a possibility. I also think he was worried about the grappling match. Maybe he was afraid I would break the rules and start striking him.”
With a perfect 6-0 record and competing in LFA, a well-known regional promotion that feeds fighters to the UFC, Barzilay anticipates joining his Fighting Nerds teammates in the UFC soon.
More than anything, he hopes Mitchell will still be in fighting shape after Silva is done with him because Barzilay intends to pursue this fight until he finally settles the score.
“Just let me fight him,” Barzilay pleaded. “It doesn’t matter where. Karate Combat, UFC, even in a gym. I just want to test myself against him. I want to fight this guy.”
“This is 100 percent personal. When he talks about the Holocaust, he’s talking about my family. Because my family perished in the Holocaust. They were murdered during the Holocaust. My grandmother survived. It’s personal. For me, a UFC debut against Bryce Mitchell sounds fantastic.”
