Uncasville, CT — A fan favorite in the Bellator cage, the 42 years and 364 days old Matt Mitrione is heading back into the cage at Mohegan Sun Arena on Friday night. Mitrione, whose birthday falls on weigh-in day, has fought numerous times in Connecticut, once in Bridgeport and the remainder in the Mohegan Sun Arena. Currently 0-3-1 in his previous four, Mitrione recently spoke to Cageside Press about his Tim Johson loss, and his aggravation with the appeal process.
“I saw him [Commission head Mike Mazzulli] in the hallway and told him we needed to have a conversation,” Mitrione told Cageside Press during Wednesday’s Bellator 262 media day, following up on that earlier interview. “That I was pretty unhappy about a situation I wanted to address with him. He was busy doing something, so I said give me a phone call. Haven’t heard from him yet. He’ll call me, we’ll talk about it.”
When asked what might be said in that conversation, Mitrione stated that it is between him and the commission head. Rest assured, it stems back to the fight with Johnson, and a head butt that wasn’t called during the bout. Mitrione’s appeal was shot down, the same day his coaches were handed suspensions by Mazzulli in an unrelated incident.
Mitrione, now a day away from his 43rd birthday, has other things to focus on. He is fighting #5 ranked Tyrell Fortune Friday — a heavyweight he’s trained with in the past.
“He’s a good dude,” Mitrione said. “I wish him success in his career, just not on our night. I’m prepared, I learned a tremendous amount from Ryan Bader. I learned I didn’t know how to respond to something and I feel I’ve done a pretty good job addressing those things,” Mitrione continued. “I live at Purdue University and Purdue was gracious enough to let me come in and do work, so I learned a lot about leg riding, wrestling, takedowns. It would be beneficial to anyone to get me to the ground but we’ve worked so much on those situations.”
Mitrione labeled the “greatest moment of his career” as his Fedor Emelianenko victory in New York City back in 2017. Bellator recently announced that Fedor, considered the GOAT by many, would be returning for a fight in his home country of Russia. Mitrione is throwing his name in the hat of candidates.
“If the GOAT says my name, it’s a yes,” Mitrione said Wednesday.
Watch the full Bellator 262 media day interview with Matt Mitrione above. The event takes place Friday, July 16 at the Mohegan Sun Arena in Uncasville, CT.
