Mix had a case as the best bantamweight outside of the UFC ahead of
signing with the promotion earlier this year, and the expectation
was that he would hit the ground running as a potential title
contender. A standout wrestler and grappler with a long frame, Mix
married that to a slow-paced but effective striking game to
dominate most of his competition in Bellator, riding seven straight
wins—including two bantamweight title defenses—into his UFC debut
against Mario
Bautista in June. That debut wound up being a crushing
disappointment, showing that while Bellator featured a lot of
high-level talent, the UFC has a much higher level of baseline
athleticism. Bautista has rarely popped as a standout athlete
during his UFC career, but he made Mix look absolutely glacial in
terms of reflexes and pure speed. For his sophomore effort, Mix
doesn’t get an easy rebound opportunity, taking on one of the
European scene’s best bantamweights in Wiklacz. The KSW
bantamweight champion since late 2022, Wiklacz runs a similar game
in broad strokes. Tall and long relative to his competition,
Wiklacz is a much more active striker than Mix but similarly looks
to get things to the mat where he can truly shine. Wiklacz might
actually be better served pivoting from that approach here. While
it might be ugly to watch, he comes close to matching Mix in terms
of frame and could similarly take advantage of the American’s lack
of activity as he looks to pressure. Still, it does seem like this
fight is destined to go to the ground, and if this goes
strength-for-strength, Mix does look like the better fighter in
that phase. The pick is Mix via decision.
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