Matt Mitrione may be a little conflicted about the type of opponent he’d like to fight next. But he’s not at all conflicted about wanting one particular dream grudge match, even if it’s not a highly realistic probability.
Ortiz fights Ryan Bader on Saturday at UFC 132, and UFC president Dana White said in January that if the former light heavyweight champion loses his next fight, he is likely to be cut from the UFC. Mitrione predicted a win for Bader and a pink slip for Ortiz shortly afterward.
“I say Bader (wins) by sending that giant planet of (Ortiz’s) head straight into the atmosphere,” Mitrione said before launching into a short diatribe at Ortiz. “I’m so glad that d—–bag spent all that money sponsoring Christian Morecraft and then lost again. Just like your pride was lost, the person representing your company lost.
“You’re gonna lose again and get cut from the UFC. If for some reason you don’t get cut from the UFC, I already talked to (Joe) Silva. I would love to fight you. I’ll fight you at a catch weight. I will pull myself back to Ethiopian standards from back in the day and be as thin as possible, and I will punch you in that planet-sized dome of yours and send you packing finally and for good. Mr. Jameson, that was directed toward you.”
Mitrione came under fire from Ortiz for comments he made on his “Mitrione Minute” segment on “The MMA Hour,” and elsewhere, that were critical of Ortiz and his wife, former adult entertainment actress Jenna Jameson. The two exchanged words in a now-famous moment caught on video by Roy Nelson at the UFC’s Fighter Summit in Las Vegas.
Ortiz co-hosted “Inside MMA” on HDNet earlier this month and said Mitrione crossed the line by bringing up his family.
“You don’t talk about another man’s woman,” Ortiz said on the show. “This guy was a d—–bag by saying what he said and then he tried to come up and kiss my butt, shake my hand. I never met the guy. I don’t know who the guy is. … And then he goes on to say he will cut weight to fight me. Come on dude, what fight? … Respect the fighters that paved the way for you to be here. I have been doing this for 14 years.”
Mitrione is a heavyweight who weighed in at 261 pounds for his fight on Sunday; Ortiz fights at light heavyweight. Ortiz has not won a fight since a TKO win over Ken Shamrock in October 2006. Since then, he has four losses and a draw. His UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill last October was the only won that didn’t come against a champion, former champion or future champion.
Though a fight against Ortiz may be just a daydream scenario right now, Mitrione isn’t certain where he fits in the UFC’s heavyweight landscape. Four of his five UFC wins have come by knockout or TKO, and the fifth was a Fight of the Night performance against Joey Beltran in his home city of Indianapolis last September. But Mitrione believes his win over Morecraft on Sunday was not up to snuff.
“To be totally honest, I think this was probably my worst fight next to (my debut win over) Marcus Jones,” Mitrione said. “I made so many mistakes. I got taken down on a horrible double. I didn’t defend my wall takedowns at all. I’m glad my striking hands are heavy. He ended up brawling with me, which I didn’t expect him to do. His hand positioning threw me off a little bit. I was doing so many different styles of jabs against him, because I was trying to figure out what was going to land against him.”
Mitrione said he believes he still has work to do to improve – and he spent much of his training camp for Morecraft training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and said he plans to return there. But if he were matched up against a veteran, he isn’t sure how he would fare if his performance was on par with how he judged himself Sunday in Pittsburgh.
“I want to fight a top guy,” Mitrione said. “I like and respect Frank Mir. He and I are cool, and I think it would be a really fun fight. (But) I made so many mistakes (Sunday). I wonder if anyone else who fights feels the way I do after they fight. If I would have made those mistakes against Cheick Kongo or Frank Mir, I would’ve lost. It makes me wonder what the right step is next. My hands, I can scrap with anybody. Technique wise, ehh …”
But one thing Mitrione said he is sure of, other than wanting that dream fight with Ortiz, is that he puts plenty of pressure on himself to be better each time out.
“The only way to be perfect is to expect it of yourself,” Mitrione said. “I feel like there’s a level of professionalism I owe to the fans, and they should see the best me possible.”
Matt Mitrione may be a little conflicted about the type of opponent he’d like to fight next. But he’s not at all conflicted about wanting one particular dream grudge match, even if it’s not a highly realistic probability.
Ortiz fights Ryan Bader on Saturday at UFC 132, and UFC president Dana White said in January that if the former light heavyweight champion loses his next fight, he is likely to be cut from the UFC. Mitrione predicted a win for Bader and a pink slip for Ortiz shortly afterward.
“I say Bader (wins) by sending that giant planet of (Ortiz’s) head straight into the atmosphere,” Mitrione said before launching into a short diatribe at Ortiz. “I’m so glad that d—–bag spent all that money sponsoring Christian Morecraft and then lost again. Just like your pride was lost, the person representing your company lost.
“You’re gonna lose again and get cut from the UFC. If for some reason you don’t get cut from the UFC, I already talked to (Joe) Silva. I would love to fight you. I’ll fight you at a catch weight. I will pull myself back to Ethiopian standards from back in the day and be as thin as possible, and I will punch you in that planet-sized dome of yours and send you packing finally and for good. Mr. Jameson, that was directed toward you.”
Mitrione came under fire from Ortiz for comments he made on his “Mitrione Minute” segment on “The MMA Hour,” and elsewhere, that were critical of Ortiz and his wife, former adult entertainment actress Jenna Jameson. The two exchanged words in a now-famous moment caught on video by Roy Nelson at the UFC’s Fighter Summit in Las Vegas.
Ortiz co-hosted “Inside MMA” on HDNet earlier this month and said Mitrione crossed the line by bringing up his family.
“You don’t talk about another man’s woman,” Ortiz said on the show. “This guy was a d—–bag by saying what he said and then he tried to come up and kiss my butt, shake my hand. I never met the guy. I don’t know who the guy is. … And then he goes on to say he will cut weight to fight me. Come on dude, what fight? … Respect the fighters that paved the way for you to be here. I have been doing this for 14 years.”
Mitrione is a heavyweight who weighed in at 261 pounds for his fight on Sunday; Ortiz fights at light heavyweight. Ortiz has not won a fight since a TKO win over Ken Shamrock in October 2006. Since then, he has four losses and a draw. His UFC 121 loss to Matt Hamill last October was the only won that didn’t come against a champion, former champion or future champion.
Though a fight against Ortiz may be just a daydream scenario right now, Mitrione isn’t certain where he fits in the UFC’s heavyweight landscape. Four of his five UFC wins have come by knockout or TKO, and the fifth was a Fight of the Night performance against Joey Beltran in his home city of Indianapolis last September. But Mitrione believes his win over Morecraft on Sunday was not up to snuff.
“To be totally honest, I think this was probably my worst fight next to (my debut win over) Marcus Jones,” Mitrione said. “I made so many mistakes. I got taken down on a horrible double. I didn’t defend my wall takedowns at all. I’m glad my striking hands are heavy. He ended up brawling with me, which I didn’t expect him to do. His hand positioning threw me off a little bit. I was doing so many different styles of jabs against him, because I was trying to figure out what was going to land against him.”
Mitrione said he believes he still has work to do to improve – and he spent much of his training camp for Morecraft training at Xtreme Couture in Las Vegas and said he plans to return there. But if he were matched up against a veteran, he isn’t sure how he would fare if his performance was on par with how he judged himself Sunday in Pittsburgh.
“I want to fight a top guy,” Mitrione said. “I like and respect Frank Mir. He and I are cool, and I think it would be a really fun fight. (But) I made so many mistakes (Sunday). I wonder if anyone else who fights feels the way I do after they fight. If I would have made those mistakes against Cheick Kongo or Frank Mir, I would’ve lost. It makes me wonder what the right step is next. My hands, I can scrap with anybody. Technique wise, ehh …”
But one thing Mitrione said he is sure of, other than wanting that dream fight with Ortiz, is that he puts plenty of pressure on himself to be better each time out.
“The only way to be perfect is to expect it of yourself,” Mitrione said. “I feel like there’s a level of professionalism I owe to the fans, and they should see the best me possible.”
Matt Mitrione may be a little conflicted about the type of opponent he’d like to fight next. But he’s not at all conflicted about wanting one particular dream grudge match, even if it’s not a highly realistic probability.