What's Your Opinion on Mitrione? Who's Next?

I think he is a pretty good stand-up fighter, his cardio looked to be a possible issue in the fight. I think he should fight a Mir or Top 10 HW next...what says The UG? Phone Post

I see his striking actually improving consistently. He also has very heavy hands. He needs time IMO. He has ok wrestling but it does need work. He is a natural athlete, quick and powerful for his size. He has potential, just not right now.

It should be somebody like Dave Herman, Ben Rothwell, or if they're feeling frisky, maybe even Kongo or Roy Nelson. Anything above that caliber right now would be a mistake.

He's athletic and talented, but he said it himself that he's very green. The guy only has 5 fights. Let him progress up the ladder, maybe fight a couple of decent ground fighters, before putting him in with a top 10 guy.

 His calmness helps a lot too.

 The unknown/un-tested ground game is the question.

Even Morecraft was catching him hard on the feet at times, I'd hate to see what an elite HW striker would do. And I get the feeling his ground game isn't quite what anybody would call elite or close to that yet either.

He's got all the natural tools though, and a certain coolness that probably comes with playing football regularly in front of tens of thousands of people. A year or two and Matt really COULD be taking on top dogs.

Take a look at the top 10 right now according to fight matrix(I may not agree on the order, but this is a pretty good representation of who the top 10 is):

1.Cain Velasquez
2.Brock Lesnar
3.Junior Dos Santos
4.Alistair Overeem
5.Fabricio Werdum
6.Bigfoot Silva
7.Frank Mir
8.Shane Carwin
9.Fedor Emelianenko
10.Josh Barnett

He's not ready for anybody on that list right now. He might have a punchers chance, but I don't see him beating anyone of those guys just yet.

 I agree with Frank, I really like how calm he is able to remain during his fights.

Rothwell, Nelson, Struve, or Hunt.

Aryan Street Boxer - The talk of him fighting a top 5 guy is ridiculous...Bonnar was saying somethign along those lines after the show.

Matt looks great, blue chip prospect but not a contender yet. Bring him along slowly IMO.

I agree a fight with Herman, Hunt, or even Ben Rothwell would be good. I don't think he's ready to fight a top level guy yet.


Hunt would be a scary fight for Matt. Not a lot of mma fighters have had a ton of success striking with Hunt, so it would be in Matt's best interest to take him down, something that we haven't really seen from him. Stylistically, that may not be a great match up for him if you want him to progress.

Too bad Aleks has whatever disease. Would also require the UFC signing him, but it'd be a test to where Matts hands are. Phone Post

nhbguy - 
Hunt would be a scary fight for Matt. Not a lot of mma fighters have had a ton of success striking with Hunt, so it would be in Matt's best interest to take him down, something that we haven't really seen from him. Stylistically, that may not be a great match up for him if you want him to progress.


he would try to take hunt down

Mitrione has shown great improvement in each of his fights. He seems to be very well prepared, remains calm and executes his gameplan. Obviously he has room for improvement and at this point should not be forced to fight a top 10 guy. He is 32 years old and doesn't have time on his side, but he is still a 2-3 fights away from taking that kind of step up. He should be allowed the opportunity to develop a little more before being thrown into a sink or swim fight. He will only have one opportunity to make a run.

Kongo

I'm becoming a fan, exciting fighter, good interviews, interesting character, but he's still just 5-0 so he should be treated like a prospect. He's not young but HWs tend to peak later so it might not be a problem. I think he should fight Jon Madsen next, would be a good test of his wrestling.

Kongo makes sense

He doesn't look like he has any ground game. That's a huge question mark. His striking is looking better, but he's still green. Kongo would light him up IMO.

Mike Russow would be good too.

Nelson or Mir would be ideal IMO. Phone Post

 Jon Madsen to test his takedown defense.