Rankings Shakeup: Is Bellator’s Patchy Mix the best bantamweight in the world?
There’s a chance Patchy Mix could be the final Bellator bantamweight champion, but he is the best bantamweight in the MMA world?
That’s the question following Mix’s spectacular victory over Sergio Pettis at Bellator 301. The 30-year-old New York native unified the Bellator bantamweight title this past Friday with a scintillating second-round rear-naked choke on Bellator’s final Showtime broadcast, propelling his pro record to 19-1 and ending the unbeaten run of Pettis, who had been MMA Fighting’s No. 6 ranked bantamweight in the world.
With a versatile all-around game and highlight-reel wins over Pettis, Raufeon Stots, Magomed Magomedov, and Kyoji Horiguchi, Mix is undoubtedly one of the most talented 135-pounders in the sport. But is he No. 1?
Survey says...
While Mix drew plenty of support from the MMA Fighting rankings panel, even garnering first-place votes from half of the team, it ultimately wasn’t enough to leapfrog over the UFC’s premier duo of current champ Sean O’Malley and former champ Aljamain Sterling.
Either way, a top-three ranking is nothing to scoff at. And considering Bellator’s uncertain future, it may not be long until Mix is able to test himself against the only men still sitting above him on the bantamweight pecking order.