After his latest loss this past weekend, Mitrione is parting ways with Bellator. What do you guys think is next? I actually think UFC, given the shallowness of the heavyweight division, might possibly consider taking a flier on him. I’m sure they’d love to bring in a former Bellator champion to get fooled by some up and comer, but at the same time, Mitrione can throw some bombs if given the right dance partner.
Any chance he goes there? How about PFL? Hard to believe, but I just read that he’s 43. Retire?
I’ll never forget when Mitrione said he did not think LHW’s moving up to HW was good for “the evolution” of MMA. He also said his loss to Bader was not a “real” HW fight despite the fact a 230 lb Bader kicked his ass. Hilarious stuff.
“I think about it, right? I’m happy for those individuals,” Mitrione told host Luke Thomas on a recent edition of The MMA Hour. “But I think that classes are classes, and I think that heavyweights are an animal all amongst themselves. So, I think there can be interdivisional fights, and I think it’s great for the fodder for fantasy stuff. But I don’t think it’s great for that evolution of the sport. I don’t think it is. I think it muddies the waters and I think it negates — for example, if I didn’t lose to Bader, pretty good chance I’ll have a title around my waist for Bellator.”
Mitrione believes if he would have had the Bellator heavyweight strap wrapped around his waist hadn’t he fought Bader as he was 4-0 in the Bellator’s heavyweight division.
“[If] this fight never happened, I’d be 4-0 in Bellator, 5-0, something like that,” Mitrione said. “But now I’m 4-1 in Bellator, and my only loss is to a light heavyweight. So that still counts as a loss on my record even though it wasn’t really a heavyweight fight, but it was a light heavyweight that made heavyweight.”
