After his much-publicized confrontation with Tito Ortiz last week at the UFC Fighter Summit, Matt Mitrione has been very open to a possible bout with the former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion.
During Monday’s episode of “The MMA Hour”, Mitrione said he pitched the idea to UFC president Dana White following the altercation and reminded him that he would do whatever it took to have the potential bout finalized.
“At the end of it I was like, ‘Just to let you know, if Tito really wants to run his mouth about this…I will cut down to as close as to 205 as possible,” Mitrione said during his segment with Ariel Helwani.
“So all these boys who say I’ll never fight him, I told Dana and I told Mr. Fertitta that I wanted to cut weight to whoop his a– if he would take that fight.”
Mitrione, who competes in the UFC heavyweight division, made disparaging remarks directed at Ortiz, and more specifically his ex-girlfriend and former adult film star, Jenna Jameson, that had prompted Ortiz to confront Mitrione.
Mitrione said he did not have any intention of fighting Ortiz, but he said he had to defend himself, after Ortiz became aggressive.
“I started to square up a little bit, and then he kept saying, like anybody who doesn’t really want to fight, they’re like ‘hit me, hit me then, hit me,” he said.
“That’s why, in the video, I was like, ‘Well, you’re the one being aggressive. If you want to be aggressive, then let’s scrap. …I came and introduced myself. I didn’t come up here to fight you.'”
For now, Mitrione will look to take his frustrations out on his next opponent, Christian Morecraft, who he’s scheduled to face at UFC Live in June.
And as for Ortiz, Mitrione said he is willing to fight him, but if Ortiz decides to turn down the offer, he said he is fine with that decision, too.
“I think that Tito didn’t necessarily want to fight me about it, but I think he felt like, as a man, he had to pop up and do something about it. And I respect that. I respect that completely,” Mitrione said.
“But if he’s not satisfied with what went on,” he continued. “If he’s not satisfied with his Twitter monologues or soliloquies or his wife’s…then we can scrap. If not, if you’re cool with it, then I’m cool with it too.”
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