By Kneebar News
UFC fighter Bryce Mitchell made news in September when he posted a Twitter video accusing an ex-girlfriend of killing fruit trees on his rural Arkansas property. The video begged local residents to boycott the “evil” woman’s tattoo parlor and protect Mitchell’s family from harm.
“Now that my trees are gone, she’s gonna try to kill me,” Mitchell claimed. “She’s gonna try to kill the dogs or she’s gonna try to kill [my fiancée].”
A police report (password required) obtained by Kneebar News suggests a more likely cause for the tree damage: loose cows.
After then-fiancée Erin Handlow called the White County Sheriff’s Department on September 12, Deputy Hunter G. Descant drove to the 16-acre parcel to investigate. There, he found both “fresh cow manure” and hoof prints around the five trees Mitchell had planted. He also determined that damage to the trees “appeared to be [at] head level height for cows,” and no higher.
When Handlow showed the deputy a hair she had pulled from nearby barbed wire, the deputy inferred it came from an animal.
His conclusion?
“[Descant] stated the fruit trees were indeed damaged, but it appeared they had been damaged by cows that had gotten out,” the Sheriff’s report says.
It’s not clear whether the cows were Mitchell’s or a neighbor’s, but it didn’t matter. The deputy’s investigation evidently carried weight with prosecutors. Nikkisha “Kish” Jones was neither arrested nor charged in connection with the incident.
That didn’t stop Mitchell from publicly accusing Jones – or urging locals to boycott her tattoo parlor.
“For the love of God, if you’re not evil and you’re not a coward, don’t give her your business,” Mitchell said in his Twitter video.
Several loyal fans who took the fighter’s accusation as gospel left incriminating comments on the parlor’s Facebook and Google pages.
“The owner destroys fruit trees, threatens animals and women. Do not patronize,” one wrote.
“[T]errible work and it’s ran [sic] by a crazy lady who will try to attack you and your possessions. [A]void if you can,” wrote another.
“I witnessed a member of staff at this shop destroy the fruit trees of a poor mentally challenged individual during a particularly tumultuous time in his life,” a third wrote. “Utter monsters like those that work in this shop should not be tolerated. Be better.”
Although Mitchell removed the video from his Twitter feed within 48 hours of posting it, a copy preserved by MMA Mania has tallied 3.7-million views.
Mitchell’s vehemence might not surprise followers of the 29-year-old fighter, who is known for insisting the earth is flat, calling school shootings a government plot, and, most recently, declaring he would home-school his infant son in order to prevent the child from becoming a Communist, Satan worshiper, or Gay.
Nor was this the only conflict between Mitchell and Jones to become public. On September 14, FanSided MMA unveiled “old video” in which Mitchell purportedly broke a glass-door pane at his ex-girlfriend’s home in a bid to reclaim a dog he said she took.
“I didn’t take the dog,” Jones said.
“Yes, you did, you lying sack of shit,” Mitchell replied.
On September 23, two weeks after posting the tirade about his fruit trees, the featherweight earned a decision win over Dan Ige at a UFC Fight Night event in Las Vegas.
Kneebar News emailed requests for comment to Jones and to Mitchell’s Thug Nasty Store on May 30. We will post any replies here upon arrival.
Mitchell and fiancée Handlow were married this Valentine’s Day.
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