Patchy Mix has lapped the competition in the Bellator bantamweight division.
Now, he’s on to giving a second chance to an opponent he choked unconscious not even two full years ago.
At least when Mix (19-1, 15 finishes) faces Magomed Magomedov, Friday in Paris as the headliner of the promotion’s second event since being purchased by PFL and rechristened Bellator Champions Series, he’ll do so as the undisputed champion for the first time.
Frankly, Mix wasn’t surprised when presented with a retread.
“I cleaned out the division, for the most part,” Mix told The Post during a recent video call. “I fought everyone in the top five, and [Juan] Archuleta’s the only one to have that little win over me.”
Archuleta handed Mix his first pro loss four years ago in his first championship opportunity, but he has had trouble making the 135-pound limit of late and lost his most recent contest on New Year’s Eve in Japan, torpedoing a realistic booking of the rematch.
That opened the door for Magomedov (20-3, 14 finishes), who in December 2022 went out cold to a Mix guillotine choke in their Bellator Bantamweight World Grand Prix semifinal contest.
There’s less money on the line this time — Mix went on to win the $1 million prize, the interim bantamweight title and eventually united the titles against Sergio Pettis last November.
But Mix has plenty at stake beyond simply completing his first title defense.
The matchup itself speaks to the odd existence of the bantamweight division in the new united PFL-Bellator — PFLator, some have dubbed it — with PFL not utilizing the 135-pounders in its featured season format, relegating these lighter weight fighters to the one-a-month Bellator events staged mostly internationally and at local-friendly times, with the main card of his one streaming on Max starting at 3 p.m. ET Friday.
As it happens, Mix might be the top pound-for-pound fighter in the entire company and — he believes — better than UFC bantamweight champion Sean O’Malley but contractually unable to prove it.
Mix expressed optimism that PFL could lure big names to the promotion such as flyweight legend Demetrious Johnson — though, it must be noted, he has expressed disinterest with fighting anywhere but ONE Championship before retiring.
Another intriguing option Mix mentioned: fighting up at featherweight.
“Brendan Loughnane, he’s coming up; he could potentially win the tournament this year. That fight, down the line, looks good,” Mix says of the former PFL 145-pound season winner who picked up a first-round finish last month to start off this season.
Mix also name-checked last year’s PFL featherweight finalists, champion Jesus Pinedo and Gabriel Braga, as well as Bellator great and current 145-pound champion Patricio Pitbull.
That’s not to say Mix isn’t focused on Magomedov, whom he says he is treating as if a fresh opponent despite their shared experience in the cage at Mohegan Sun in Connecticut 17 months ago.
Big fights are what Mix is chasing now that he’s climbed the mountain and been tasked with playing king of the hill, and those don’t happen unless he takes care of business a second time against Magomedov.
“After this, I just want to remain dominant,” Mix said. “I put this guy away, I do it in a way that I know Patchy can, in a way I can, people are gonna be excited to watch me fight. And it doesn’t matter who it’s going to be against; they’re just going to want to watch me.”
