MMA Spotlight: Matt Mitrione

By Anthony “Zute” George

Matt Mitrione is an American Mixed Martial Artist who sports a record of 11-5, with ten of his wins coming by knockout. He is what you would call one of the better personalities in MMA. Indeed, he can fight, however, intangibles have also played a huge part of Mitrione’ success. Success that will reach its pinnacle this Summer; Matt faces the legendary Fedor Emelianko in the even more legendary Madison Square Garden- a bout which is part of Bellator MMA’s blockbuster PPV event on June 24th.

MMA was not Mitrone’s first passion. American football holds that honor. Check that, being the best at what you do was probably Mitrione’ first passion. You know, that special quality that only certain athletes have. Lebron James comes to mind when I think of the NBA, Derek Jeter when I think of Major League Baseball, and Marvelous Marvin Hagler when I think of…well pretty much everything.

While Matt might not have reached the height of success these athletes have (yet), it should be apparent to anyone who has paid attention that it is not because of a lack of desire to be the best. We first saw these qualities from Matt in The Ultimate Fighter Season 10: The Heavyweights. In one of the more higher rated seasons of TUF (mainly because of the presence of the late Kimbo Slice), Matt Mitrione established himself the most promising heavyweight, save for Roy Nelson, on the show. His never quit attitude was front and center when it appeared that severe migraines would sideline Matt from the competition. Well, no such thing happened and Matt left no doubt that he wanted to be a fighter; a question often asked by UFC President Dana White.

The fact that Mitrione did not quit, left more of an impression on Mr. White, than the fact that Matt lost the fight many thought he was going to pull out of. As a result, Dana bought Matt Mitrione back to the UFC and Matt made his professional UFC debut on the TUT Heavyweights Finale (all fights on the show count as exhibition bouts). This time, there was no migraine to disturb Matt and he defeated Marcus Jones via KO; a method he has won by 91 percent of the time.

Since his UFC debut, Matt has certainly had his up and downs as a MMA fighter. His most impressive win came over Gabriel Gonzaga, his most high profile win came over the aforementioned Kimbo Slice, Matt did not get the memo stating that fight was supposed to be a jump start for Kimbo.

Going into that fight, Matt Mitirone and Kimbo Slice had a lot in common. Both came into the UFC very raw; first making their name in other sports of a violent nature. For Matt it was American Football, for Kimbo Slice it was street fighting; some of you may question the latter as being a sport, however, a competition that garners over a million YouTube hits is something. But make no mistake about it, neither American football nor street fighting can properly prepare for MMA.

Starting your MMA career in the UFC virtually inexperienced, as both Matt and Kimbo did (Kimbo did have some fights in Strikeforce prior to TUF, but he was still very raw going into the UFC), is cruel and unusual punishment. Unlike boxing and some lower level MMA organizations, the UFC has no soft touches. There is no such thing as building up a fighter, it is learning on the job against the best of the best. While Matt never became the best of the best in the UFC, he never embarrassed himself against the toughest competition in all of combat sports. If that is not enough evidence to show what kind of a fighter Matt Mitirone is, well like Bruce’s machine, you are a dud all stuck in the mud.

Since 2016, Matt has been fighting for Bellator MMA. I feel this is a chance for him to flesh out his MMA skills a bit, as the competition is formidable, but not as arduous as what he faced in the UFC; Matt is 2-0 so far in Bellator MMA. Fedor, his next opponent, can also be characterized as not as wearisome as he once was. Indeed, Fedor is still a tough fight for Matt, which makes it a great fight for the fans; which is exactly what the fighter known as Meathead has been since his appearance on TUF.

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