In the world of professional fighting, you expect to hear about broken orbital bones, torn ACLs, or maybe a cauliflower ear that looks like a piece of chewed bubblegum. But back in 2018, the MMA world stopped scrolling for a second when Bryce Mitchell—Arkansas’s own "Thug Nasty"—posted something so bizarre and painful that people actually thought it was a prank. It wasn't.
He had literally ripped his scrotum in half.
The story of how Bryce Mitchell drills nuts (specifically his own) has become legendary in the UFC, not just because of the gore, but because of how casually he handled it. If you’re a fan of the guy, you know he’s a different breed. He’s the same dude who showed up to a fight in camo shorts and once suggested the Earth might be flat.
But this specific accident remains the peak of his "country boy" lore. It’s been years since it happened, and Mitchell has gone on to have massive fights against guys like Ilia Topuria and Josh Emmett, but the drill story is the one that refuses to die. Honestly, it’s a miracle the man is still walking, let alone fighting at the highest level of the sport in 2026.
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The Most "Thug Nasty" Accident Ever
So, how does a professional athlete manage to mangle himself with a power tool? It wasn't some freak gym accident. It was DIY gone horribly wrong.
Mitchell was at home doing some woodwork. He was holding a board over his head, trying to get it positioned just right. Since he needed both hands for the board, he did what any guy working on a porch might do—he tucked the power drill into his waistband.
It was a bad move.
The drill's trigger got squeezed against his body. In a split second, the bit caught his skin. Or, more accurately, it caught his scrotum. Because of the way drills work, it didn't just poke him; it "tangled" things up.
"I was holding a board over my head with a drill in my pants. I was sizing up the board and the drill went off and tangled my nuts up in it." - Bryce Mitchell, via social media.
Think about that for a second. Most people would go into shock. Bryce? He dropped the board, stayed relatively calm, and realized he had to reverse the drill to get himself unstuck. That’s a level of composure that most people don't possess. He literally untwisted his own anatomy from a drill bit.
The Aftermath and the "Half-Nut" Rumors
After he got himself free, the damage was pretty clear. He described the injury as his "nutsack being ripped in half." Naturally, he couldn't post a picture for the Gram—UFC fans are intense, but nobody wants to see that—so he just gave a graphic text update.
He had to go to the hospital to get stitched back up.
The recovery was miserable. If you’ve ever had a minor scrape in that area, you know it’s sensitive. Now imagine dozens of stitches holding your reproductive organs together. Mitchell had to take months off. He couldn't even think about training because, as he put it, one high kick would have "re-ripped them."
It’s one of those stories that sounds like an urban legend until you realize he actually missed significant career time for it. But instead of being embarrassed, he leaned into it. He joked that if anyone made a "nutty" pun, he wouldn’t talk to them for a month.
Why This Story Still Follows Him in 2026
You’d think after his recent move to the bantamweight division and his win over Said Nurmagomedov in 2025, people would stop talking about the drill. But they don't.
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It's because the incident perfectly encapsulates who Bryce Mitchell is. He’s raw. He’s unfiltered. He’s a guy who lives on a ranch in Arkansas and does his own repairs, even if it almost costs him his ability to have kids.
It also highlights his insane toughness. Most fighters talk about being "built different." Mitchell proved it by reversing a power drill out of his own groin and then coming back to dominate world-class athletes.
Does it affect his fighting?
Physically, no. He’s made a full recovery. He’s actually looked faster lately, especially since dropping down to 135 pounds. He recently knocked out Kron Gracie with ground elbows at UFC 310, proving that his wrestling and power are still very much intact.
But mentally? It probably gave him a weird kind of "nothing can hurt me" confidence. When you've survived a power tool to the junk, a left hook from a featherweight probably doesn't seem quite as scary.
Practical Lessons for the Rest of Us
Look, we aren't all UFC fighters, but there are some actual takeaways from the Bryce Mitchell drill saga.
- Tool Safety is No Joke: Never, under any circumstances, store a tool with a trigger in your waistband. Not even for a second. Use a tool belt. They’re like twenty bucks at Home Depot.
- Panic is the Enemy: Mitchell’s ability to reverse the drill probably saved him from even worse permanent damage. If he had yanked it, he might have lost everything.
- Don't Skip the Hospital: If you have a traumatic injury, get the stitches. Mitchell didn't try to "tough it out" at home with duct tape (though he probably thought about it).
If you're following Bryce's career now, you know he’s looking for a big fight at the "UFC White House" event rumored for later this year. He wants Sean O’Malley. He’s calling it "Country Boy vs. City Boy."
Whether he wins or loses that hypothetical fight, one thing is certain: he’s already survived the most dangerous opponent of his life—a 12-volt DeWalt.
The best thing you can do to avoid a similar fate is to invest in a proper $25 leather tool holster if you're doing DIY this weekend. It's much cheaper than a trip to the ER and a lifetime of being the guy who "drilled his own nuts."
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To stay updated on Mitchell's upcoming bantamweight run, you should keep an eye on the official UFC rankings, as he’s currently climbing toward the top 15 in his new weight class.