5 possible opponents for Bryce Mitchell following his win at UFC 272

After his win over Edson Barboza this weekend, who is next for Bryce Mitchell?

This past weekend at UFC 272, featherweight prospect Bryce Mitchell picked up the biggest win of his career to date by comfortably outpointing dangerous veteran Edson Barboza.

Bryce Mitchell is now 6-0 in the UFC and is very much entrenched in the featherweight division’s top ten, so who should be next in line for him?

“I’m grateful to have people that want to see more about my life. Five years ago, people didn’t care enough to interview me or to ask something."

Bryce Mitchell (@ThugNastyMMA) will always be himself, inside the Octagon and outside of it. #UFC272

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Few fighters will want to face ‘Thug Nasty’ after he dealt with Barboza so impressively. Thankfully, his division is stacked, meaning there certainly isn’t a lack of options for him.

With that in mind, here are five potential opponents for Bryce Mitchell following his win at UFC 272.

#5. Bryce Mitchell vs. Josh Emmett

Josh Emmett's brutal knockout power makes him one of the most dangerous featherweights in the UFC

Following his win over Edson Barboza, it probably only makes sense for Bryce Mitchell to fight an opponent currently ranked above him. In that sense, No.6-ranked Josh Emmett sounds like a perfect match.

‘The Fighting Falmer’ is currently riding a four-fight win streak. He most notably overcame the notoriously durable Dan Ige via unanimous decision back in December. Prior to that, he’d beaten Shane Burgos, Mirsad Bektic and Michael Johnson, all in impressive fashion.

So how would he match up with Mitchell? Like his recent fight with Barboza, a clash between ‘Thug Nasty’ and Emmett would be largely seen as a grappler vs. striker bout. Mitchell would look to ground the Team Alpha Male fighter while Emmett would hunt for a knockout.

Unlike Barboza, though, Emmett has a strong wrestling background in his own right. This means it might be tricky for Mitchell to overpower him as he did to the Brazilian this weekend.

Could ‘Thug Nasty’ stand up to the one-shot knockout power of ‘The Fighting Falmer’? It’s a very fair question to ask, particularly as we’ve yet to see him really hurt during a fight in the octagon.

WOW. Josh Emmett just knocked Ricardo Lamas into next week 😯 #UFCWinnipeg
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If he could beat Emmett, though – something that only Jeremy Stephens has been able to do at 145lbs, and that win came under semi-controversial circumstances – then there’d be absolutely no doubting Mitchell’s title credentials.

This would be a high-risk, high-reward fight for ‘Thug Nasty’, but it’d definitely be worth pursuing from the UFC’s point of view.