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UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell apologizes for controversial Hitler comments

Originally posted on MMA on SI | By Zain Bando | Last updated Feb 3, 2025 9:19 AM ET

UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell has finally issued a public apology for his hateful and anti-Semitic remarks, going as far as to call German dictator Adolf Hitler a "good guy" on his lone podcast episode last Thursday.

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His words enraged CEO Dana White, who publicly condemned the Top 15 contender but opted to not suspend or cut him from the promotion during a post-fight Power Slap 11 presser the same day.

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"Lemme get some f***ing dumb s***outta the way first here," White said to assembled media. "I'm out here having fun doing Power Slap tonight, and I'm sure you guys heard what Bryce Mitchell said. If you haven't, he said some probably - I've heard a lot of dumb, ignorant s*** in my day, but this one's probably the worst when you talk about Hitler. He's responsible for the death of 6 million Jews, and he tried to completely eliminate a race of people."

White, the mouthpiece of the promotion and a key figure in getting MMA to where it is today, was far from done with the Arkansas native.

"World War II was the deadliest war in history," White added. "15 million military deaths, 45 million civilians and 25 million soldiers were killed in World War II. Second of all, Hitler is one of the most disgusting and evil human beings to ever walk the face of the earth. And anyone that even tries to take and opposing position is a moron, that's the problem with the internet and social media."

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"You provide a platform for a lot of dumb, ignorant people. We've obviously reached out to Bryce, and when we read what he said and let him know how we feel about it... we're beyond disgusted."

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"I'm Sorry I Sounded Insensitive"

Following the backlash from millions of fans and coverage from non-MMA news outlets like CNN and CBS News, the 30-year-old came clean and vowed to learn from the experience by educating himself, learning about different cultures, and thinking before articulating.

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“I’m sorry I sounded insensitive,” Mitchell wrote Saturday. “I definitely was not trying to offend anybody, but I know I did. I know that a lot of people died in the Holocaust, and that’s a fact. Hitler did a lot of evil things, I think we can all agree on that. I’m definitely not a nazi, and definitely do not condone any of the evil things Hitler did.”

Whether Mitchell learns from his mistakes comes down to what the public perception becomes of him moving forward, alongside whether the UFC's free speech paridigm continues to hold true as White reaffirmed in his remarks.

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"That's the beautiful thing about this business. For all of you that hate Bryce Mitchell, you get to see him hopefully get his a*** whooped on global television," White said, ""What do you want me to say about it? You know where I am with free speech. We're disgusted by it. I think he's literally one of the dumbest human beings."