UFC featherweight Bryce Mitchell devoted a recent episode of his podcast to what he sees as a looming energy crisis fueled by the rapid expansion of artificial intelligence data centers across the United States. The Arkansas star did not hold back, laying out how he believes these massive facilities are consuming electricity, water, and land at a rate the country’s grid simply cannot sustain.
Mitchell pointed to projections showing U.S. data center power demand jumping from 31 gigawatts in 2025 to 66 gigawatts by 2027, more than doubling in just two years. He emphasized that the existing power grid was never built to handle that kind of load.
To illustrate his point, Mitchell referenced California’s 2022 statewide flex alerts, when the grid operator asked residents to stop charging their electric vehicles between 4 p.m. and 9 p.m. because the system could not handle the strain.
Now, Mitchell argued, with the addition of crypto mining and AI data centers on top of electric vehicles, regular people will be the ones left without power when the grid gets strained.
“Do you think it’s going to be me and my cows?” he asked. “It’s not going to be us. The data center is going to get priority.”
Mitchell went further, sharing his personal theory that much of the energy being consumed by these facilities is being wasted entirely, dissipated as heat with no meaningful output.
“My life has not changed in the last two years,” he said. “I don’t feel like I have more processing power, more computing, or anything like that.”
He also called out what he sees as glaring hypocrisy from tech leaders and corporations who lecture the public about carbon footprints while cutting massive deals for fossil-fuel-powered infrastructure.
Mitchell highlighted Chevron’s partnership with Microsoft for a 20-year natural gas powered data center project in West Texas, noting that natural gas and coal are expected to meet over 40 percent of additional data center electricity demand through 2030.
“They told you use paper straws,” Mitchell said, “while they’re using gas plants for RoboCops.”
Mitchell closed by urging his listeners to stay spiritually grounded in the face of what he described as systemic deception, invoking the Holy Spirit’s power and encouraging his audience to remain focused and motivated.
He said, “We’re all linked in the spirit out there. Let the force be strong with you. the force of the Holy Spirit. It is something that you can control, that you can you can summon and you can use. “
