In an Instagram statement released Saturday, UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell offered an about-face apology for a series of recent “insensitive” comments praising Nazi leader Adolf Hitler. “I was definitely not trying to offend anybody, but I know I did,” the apology note read, before clarifying he is “definitely not a nazi, and definitely [does] not condone any of the evil things Hitler did.” How did Mitchell reach a point where this mea culpa was necessary? Among the comments made during an episode of his ArkanSanity podcast he now realizes caused offense were that Hitler “was a good guy based upon my own research,” and someone that “before [he] got on meth… was a guy I’d go fishing with.” In the podcast, Mitchell also shared antisemitic and anti-gay rhetoric and cast doubt upon the Holocaust. As TMZ noted earlier in the week, the remarks saw Mitchell—who has previously espoused conspiracy theories regarding COVID-19, mass shootings, Elon Musk, and gravity, among other topics—slammed as “probably one of the dumbest human beings” by UFC boss and Trump ally Dana White, who then added he still believed in Mitchell’s right to “free speech.”
