Issue 081
November 2011
Unbeaten prospect Matt Mitrione on being a habitual f**k-up, impregnating Chieck Kongo and his desire to one day own the UFC heavyweight belt
NEED TO KNOW
NAME: MATT MITRIONE
AGE: 33
STARTED: 2009
TEAM: Roufusport
DIVISION: heavyweight
STYLE: All-Rounder
RECORD: 5-0
Likeable, intelligent and relaxed. If you watched him on The Ultimate Fighter season 10, it might be surprising to hear Matt Mitrione described like that. On the show he was involved in many altercations, labeled a snitch and painted as an idiotic ‘Meathead’, a nickname he has held since high school, where his car registration plate read ‘Meat 98’.
But Mitrione disliked being on the show just as much as we disliked his antics. “It really sucked. It was a miserable, life-altering experience for all the wrong reasons,” he says. “To be separated from my family with no media of any form was really quite punishing. But I gained a huge amount of notoriety for acting like a jerk on TV and for people hating me.”
Speak to Matt briefly, or glance at his Twitter account [@mattmitrione], and you realize how much being separated from his kids must have hurt. He is a proud parent of two sons and a baby girl. “I might be an idiot a lot of the time, but I get being a father. I’ve got a juvenile sense of humor. And I understand kids are just trying to emulate everything you do. No kid wants to be rotten. Everybody does stupid stuff, I make the same mistakes over and over. It makes me happy when people see me as a good role model. My kids don’t wear Affliction T-shirts or have Mohawks. They don’t run around punching people. They smile and laugh and get teased like any other kid.”
His UFC.com profile summarizes Matt as being ‘strong, quick, kinda crazy.’ He responds: “I don’t think I’m that crazy, maybe a smidge wild… We pitched a tent in the living room because it’s too hot to do it outside. If that means I’m crazy, fine, I’ll be that guy. I’m a happy, happy person, man.”
His love of life clearly translates into his fighting career. In his recent second-round KO victory over Christian Morecraft at UFC Live 4, Mitrione could be seen singing along to his entrance music, Lynyrd Skynyrd’s Simple Man. “I’m pretty relaxed all the time. Some people go to work miserable and turn page after page reading manuals. That would suck more than anything,” he says.
“My job is to stay in shape and not look horrible with my shirt off. If I get a good workout in, eat somewhat well and punch someone in the face more than I get punched in the face, that’s a damn good day for me. I’m the same before a fight. I listen to opera and soothing music. I’m excitable. I get amped up in a moment. Even when I win I don’t celebrate much. I’m very relaxed, almost to a fault.”
But to hear Matt speak about his life, it’s surprising he has got to where he is. A standout athlete since high school, he feels he wasted many opportunities simply by being wasted. He admits: “I didn’t go to high school, I went to school high. I had a D+ average. It’s embarrassing and humiliating. I had to go to high school for an extra year and eat a ton of humble pie. My hardest opponent to date has been life. I’ve screwed things up so much. I’m not being metaphorical – it’s true.
“I started drinking a whole bunch at college. I didn’t take care of my body and went to the NFL as a free agent. I’ve screwed up being married. I’m a habitual f**k-up. Physically, Chieck Kongo should be my toughest opponent. But win or lose, one guarantee is I’ll be drunk as all hell after the fight.”
He might have made mistakes but the reality is that Mitrione is his own harshest critic. He watches a lot of tape, a trait he picked up in the NFL at the New York Giants and Minnesota Vikings. “The NFL taught me how to prepare, perform well and be objective about my performance. In my last fight I’d say I was about a three-and-a-half out of 10. By the time I fight Kongo I’ll know what time he takes an afternoon nap.”
While he is capable of genuine reflection, the humorous side of Meathead is never far from the surface. When asked what area he needs to improve most, he gives a typically witty response: “Probably my bikini area... I don’t know man, I’ve had five fights.”
Mitrione is a rare breed in having fought solely in the UFC. Before appearing on TUF, he had trained for just six months and by his own admission was “really green.”
Just two years after his debut, he has amassed a 5-0 record with two KOs and two TKOs. But he isn’t just a stand-up fighter. He insists: “My ground game is developing well. It’s aggressive and I’m fairly nimble for a big guy.”
He is learning fast by training under head grappling coach at Xtreme Couture, Neil Melanson. “People tweet s**t to me about my ground game based on the James McSweeney fight [McSweeney beat Mitrione by guillotine in a TUF exhibition], and that’s awesome, please underestimate my ground ability. I’m gonna be pretty dangerous soon and you’re not going to want to stand or go to ground with me. The only option will be to jump out the cage and get suspended by the commission, and I really believe that will happen some day.”
Mitrione credits fellow UFC heavyweight Pat Barry for greatly improving his striking ability while under his tutelage at Roufusport.
Despite being incredibly relaxed, Mitrione isn’t in MMA just to have a good time. “To quote dog-fighting rapper DMX, ‘If I’m going to play I’m going to play ‘till I win.’ I want the belt. I want to be able to say I lived the best life I could; I took every experience and did what I could with it. If the worst happens, I’m 33 now and have lived the life of most 80-year-olds.”
On his attempted ascent to the peak of the UFC’s heavyweight division, Mitrione must next overcome French striker Cheick Kongo. And he’s not underestimating his opponent. “Cheick is a real talent, he’s got tremendous resiliency. I think he’s surpassed being a gatekeeper and is nearly a legit contender. He’s a damn good dude too, very cordial. But I’m going to try and pay my bills off his chin and I expect him to do the same.” Matt enjoys pleasing the crowd, but it’s not his prime concern: “I want to throw leather and trade off shins. But if I’m getting my ass kicked, I’m sure as hell going to wrestle and win the fight. Hell, I might even try to get Cheick Kongo pregnant.“
He is a former NFL star turned flourishing UFC prospect with three kids that he adores, a life he loves and a sense of humor that many comedians would envy. For a “habitual f**k-up,” he isn’t doing too badly.
