UFC heavyweight Brendan Schaub has expressed his frustration after losing his spot at UFC on Fox 8 later this month due to an injury to his opponent, Matt Mitrione.
The two former The Ultimate Fighter teammates were supposed to meet on July 27, but it was reported on Thursday that Mitrione was injured in training.
Schaub spoke to Fight Hub TV:
“I’m a sad panda right now, straight up… I just got done with camp. Matt Mitrione pulled out yesterday so, it’s a killer for me.”
Up until this year, the two heavyweights were struggling in the division, having lost two fights in a row with possible dismissals from the promotion looming. In February, Schaub arrested his losing streak with a win over Lavar Johnson at UFC 157. Mitrione did the same in April against Phil De Fries.
Since then, Mitrione has been waging a Twitter war against his opponent in an effort to drum up interest in the contest. But from Schaub’s comments, it seems the two are still firm friends.
“I don’t know what’s up with Matt. Hopefully he gets better,” said Schaub. “I hope it’s not serious. I hope he’s all right; he’s a buddy… I text him, make sure he’s all right, I heard from him.”
Nevertheless, Schaub doesn’t hide his frustration at losing the opportunity to fight his friend, especially due to the cost of his training camp. He told Fight Hub TV that he flew training partners and coaches in from all over the place in preparation for the contest.
Those training partners included Lyoto Machida and Chael Sonnen. His one consolation is that he’s come out of the camp an improved fighter.
Schaub says that he’d like to fight Mitrione later in the year at UFC 165, which takes place in Toronto in September.
If he does make it to that card, he’ll be on below a Jon Jones vs. Alexander Gustafsson light heavyweight championship main event.
And, in the meantime, he can take some of that striking knowledge he’s accumulated from Machida to help the Ring of Champions Society in Manchester, who are currently looking to take young fighters the 2016 Olympics.
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