RIZIN has not issued an official statement, but Patchy Mix is reported to have been released after two losses and a 6.3-pound bantamweight weigh-in miss at RIZIN 54.
The Story
Former UFC fighter and Bellator bantamweight champion Patchy Mix is reported to have been released by RIZIN after suffering back-to-back defeats and facing major backlash following his second appearance in the promotion.
RIZIN 54 took place in August 2026, when Mix returned to bantamweight to fight Shoko Sato. At the weigh-ins, Mix came in over the division limit, registering 140.7 pounds against the 134.4-pound bantamweight threshold, a 6.3-pound miss.
As a result of the overage, RIZIN imposed a two-point deduction and, under the promotion’s special rules, Mix was not eligible to win the bout officially. Sato accepted the fight and went on to win by unanimous decision, with the point deduction playing a role in the official outcome.
The weigh-in incident drew public criticism from RIZIN CEO Nobuyuki Sakakibara, who called the situation unacceptable. Promotion officials also acknowledged at the time that terminating Mix’s contract remained a possibility.
After the Sato fight, Mix apologized publicly, writing: “Very sorry to my opponent, the boss, and RIZIN fans.”
The Sato loss was Mix’s second in two RIZIN appearances. His previous outing came at RIZIN 52 in March 2026 against 19-year-old Kyoma Akimoto, which ended in a defeat for Mix.
According to the reporting, Mix had signed with RIZIN seeking a fresh start after moving up in weight from his bantamweight struggles. In his UFC stint, Mix had gone to featherweight in an effort to ease the physical toll of making 135 pounds.
Mix signed with the UFC in May 2025 after parting ways with the PFL following Bellator’s merger with the promotion. His Octagon debut came at UFC 316 in June 2025, where he lost a unanimous decision to Mario Bautista, followed by a split-decision loss to Jakub Wiklacz at UFC 320 in October 2025.
The reporting also states that Mix later said his management informed him about five to six weeks after the Wiklacz fight that he would be released from the UFC, and that he could not afford to continue competing under the same circumstances.
Mix’s contract situation with RIZIN remains unconfirmed by the promotion, but the described sequence of events—two straight losses in RIZIN and the bantamweight weigh-in miss at RIZIN 54—forms the basis for the report that his time with the Japanese promotion has ended.
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