Free-agent heavyweight Matt Mitrione says he is planning on appealing his TKO loss to Travis Browne because of several referee errors.
Current free-agent heavyweight Matt Mitrione is appealing his January loss to top contender Travis Browne at UFC Fight Night 81 with the Massachusetts State Athletic Commission (MSAC) for numerous officiating errors in his latest contest.
Mitrione was accidentally poked in the eye on several occasions during his bout with Hapa. He believes Gary Forman made crucial mistakes as the referee by not penalizing Browne in some way — point deduction, disqualification, etc.
“My case is extremely strong, extremely valid,” Mitrione told MMAFighting.com. “And I know a lot of times people have cases when they appeal something and it’s a very valid position and nothing ever happens, it doesn’t get overturned. Well, that’s bullsh*t. A lot of that problem, I think, is because the commission takes a lot of pride in who they hire and they don’t feel like they can be accountable for those mistakes.
“People f-ck up. It happens. I don’t think the commission should take it on the chin like they apparently do and it shouldn’t be a shot at their ego.”
Ultimately because of the blatant eye-pokes and shots that may not have landed had he been able to see properly, Meat head suffered a broken orbital bone and a very visible (and scary) hematoma over his right eye.
According to Mitrione, during the second round of the fight with Browne, which Mitrione lost by third-round TKO due to ground-and-pound strikes, Forman warned him to avoid jumping into Browne’s fingers.
“He acknowledges the fact that he missed the foul, because he knew it was a finger that caused that poke, and warns Travis, but doesn’t stop the fight,” Mitrione said. … “The fact that it’s gonna stick on my record as a loss with no asterisk on it because I had the balls to carry forward versus just stopping — that’s madness.”
With the stoppage loss to Browne, Mitrione (9-5) has now lost two in-a-row, also including a surprising submission loss to Big Ben Rothwell. The two losses snapped a hot streak he was riding, which included impressive victories over Gabriel Gonzaga and Derrick Lewis.
The Browne matchup was the last bout on Mitrione’s current contract, and now Mitrione is officially a free-agent, looking for a new contract, whether that means with the UFC or another rival organization such as Bellator MMA. Thus far, the loss to Browne has affected Mitrione’s negotiating power.
“Travis should not get, in my opinion, the victory on that fight,” Mitrione said. “Travis didn’t win that fight. There were a substantial amount of errors in that fight and it shouldn’t have ever gotten to that point.”