Apparently, UFC heavyweight and former NFL player Matt Mitrione is no fan of Jon Jones.
In fact, he wants to fight him in the Octagon in exactly a year.
That’s the current fallout from Jones’ recent comments (via MMA Junkie) about Mitrione’s verbal rant against infamous male-to-female transgender MMA fighter Fallon Fox during an interview on The MMA Hour, where the Blackzilian called Fox a “sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak.”
In turn, Jones stated that “Meathead” was simply a “scumbag kid” who “needs to shut his mouth”—prompting the following response from Mitrione:
Ur a spoiled brat that needs 2b taught a lesson & I’m the guy2do it. Come fight me at hvywgt within 1 year or ur a coward, kid @jonnybones — Cornholio (@mattmitrione) April 26, 2013
Mitrione was supposedly in some hot water over his appearance on The MMA Hour, with the UFC quickly issuing a press statement noting he had been suspended for violating his contractual “code of conduct” clause.
To say the least, it didn’t last long.
Not only was the suspension quickly lifted, but Mitrione is now scheduled to make the fastest two-fight turnaround of his young fighting career at UFC on Fox 8 (via ESPN) against fellow heavyweight Brendan Schaub.
To boot, Mitrione also took a very pointed jab at Jones for his own career controversy, referencing Jones’ DWI in May 2012:
Last time I spoke, gotNtrouble4 talking bout sum1 using hands2hurt women, guess thats a lot better than Bentleys&Telephone poles @jonnybones — Cornholio (@mattmitrione) April 26, 2013
Mitrione also claims that Jones “can’t take a punch” and that “nobody” in the UFC heavyweight division is worried about the young light heavyweight champion potentially moving up a weight class in the future.
Jones hasn’t confirmed that he’s ready to enter the 265-pound division within the next year, and current plans from the UFC indicate that the next two years for “Bones” could involve more light heavyweight title defenses and a superfight with middleweight champion Anderson Silva.
At 25 years old, Jones has ample time to contemplate a division shift, while the 34-year-old Mitrione is attempting to build himself another winning streak.
(Jones is currently two wins away from breaking Tito Ortiz’s record for the most successful consecutive defenses of the UFC Light Heayvweight Championship.)
But does a Jones vs. Mitrione match seem possible?
It’s not likely, especially since a move to heavyweight for Jones would likely be for a superfight against the division’s current champion.
Of course, that’s assuming Jones defeats Chael Sonnen at UFC 159 and continues to hold the belt throughout his light heavyweight reign.
Unless Mitrione dramatically improves his UFC ranking and gets his hands on the UFC heavyweight title, he probably won’t ever face Jones in the Octagon.
McKinley Noble is an MMA conspiracy theorist. His work has appeared in NVision, PC World, Macworld, GamePro, 1UP, MMA Mania and The L.A. Times.
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