Matthew Steven Mitrione was born on July 15,1978 and is an American mixed martial artist and former American football player, who competed for both the Ultimate Fighting Championship, and most recently for Bellator MMA.
60 Facts About Matt Mitrione
2.
Matt Mitrione was a featured fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.
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Matt Mitrione was born in Bloomington, Illinois and raised in Springfield, where he attended Sacred Heart-Griffin High School for first four years, where he competed in football, swimming and diving, and track and field.
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Matt Mitrione trained in Shotokan Karate as a child to help deal with his hyperactivity.
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Matt Mitrione competed in Toughman Contests while he was still in high school, and finished second in his initial Toughman Contest in his hometown of Springfield.
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Matt Mitrione attended Purdue University on a football scholarship and started 35 consecutive games for the Boilermakers at defensive tackle, but broke his right foot during winter conditioning practice in his senior year.
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Matt Mitrione went undrafted during the 2002 NFL Draft, but was offered a contract by the New York Giants.
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Matt Mitrione was released by the Giants in 2004 and then had brief stints with the San Francisco 49ers and Minnesota Vikings, before being released by the Vikings six weeks into the 2005 season and a week before his first child was born.
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Matt Mitrione then relocated with his family to Indianapolis, Indiana, where he began training with fighters Chris Lytle and Jake O'Brien.
10.
Matt Mitrione appeared on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter.
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Later in an interview, Matt Mitrione revealed that he joined the show only to promote his sports nutrition company.
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Matt Mitrione did fight and was eliminated by teammate James McSweeney in the quarterfinals, losing via guillotine choke.
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Matt Mitrione made his professional MMA debut on December 5,2009 at The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights Finale defeating Marcus Jones via KO early in the second round.
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Matt Mitrione then faced another fellow Ultimate Fighter alumnus Kimbo Slice at UFC 113 in Montreal.
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Matt Mitrione faced Joey Beltran on September 25,2010, at UFC 119.
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Matt Mitrione won the fight via unanimous decision and won the Fight of the Night award.
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Matt Mitrione defeated Tim Hague on January 22,2011, at UFC Fight Night 23 via TKO in the first round.
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Matt Mitrione fought Christian Morecraft on June 26,2011, at UFC on Versus 4.
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Matt Mitrione dominated the first round with his standup scoring two knockdowns.
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Matt Mitrione ended the fight via KO at 4:28 of round 2.
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Matt Mitrione suffered his first professional MMA loss to Cheick Kongo via unanimous decision on October 29,2011, at UFC 137.
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Matt Mitrione was expected to face Rob Broughton on August 4,2012, at UFC on FOX 4.
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Matt Mitrione was expected to face Phil De Fries on December 29,2012, at UFC 155.
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Matt Mitrione lost the fight via TKO in the first round.
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Matt Mitrione won the fight via knockout just 19 seconds into the first round.
26.
Matt Mitrione called Fox a "lying, sick, sociopathic, disgusting freak" who he hoped would never fight again, and referred to Fox by male pronouns.
27.
Matt Mitrione criticized the state of Florida for licensing Fox to fight.
28.
The suspension was lifted after two weeks when Matt Mitrione's next fight against Brendan Schaub was announced.
29.
Matt Mitrione was expected to face Brendan Schaub on July 27,2013, at UFC on Fox 8.
30.
Matt Mitrione faced Shawn Jordan on March 1,2014, at The Ultimate Fighter: China Finale.
31.
Matt Mitrione won via knockout at 4:59 of the first round.
32.
Matt Mitrione was scheduled to face Stefan Struve on July 5,2014, at UFC 175, but Struve collapsed in the locker room before the fight, leading to a cancellation.
33.
Matt Mitrione faced Derrick Lewis on September 5,2014, at UFC Fight Night 50.
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Matt Mitrione faced Gabriel Gonzaga on December 13,2014, at UFC on Fox 13.
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Matt Mitrione won the fight via TKO in the first round.
36.
Matt Mitrione faced Ben Rothwell on June 6,2015, at UFC Fight Night 68.
37.
Matt Mitrione lost the fight by submission in the first round.
38.
Matt Mitrione faced Travis Browne on January 17,2016, at UFC Fight Night 81.
39.
Matt Mitrione lost the fight via TKO in the third round, though the bout was mired in controversy, as Mitrione suffered two eye pokes from Browne throughout the fight.
40.
On March 14,2016, Matt Mitrione announced he had signed with Bellator MMA.
41.
Matt Mitrione made his promotional debut against Carl Seumanutafa at Bellator 157 on June 14,2016.
42.
Matt Mitrione won the back-and-forth fight via TKO in the second round.
43.
Matt Mitrione was scheduled to take on Fedor Emelianenko at Bellator 172 on February 18,2017 in San Jose, California.
44.
However hours before the fight Matt Mitrione was forced out of the bout due to kidney stones.
45.
Early in the first round both fighters knocked each other down, but Matt Mitrione recovered faster and finished Fedor with ground and pound, winning via knockout in round one.
46.
On February 16,2018, Matt Mitrione had a rematch with Roy Nelson at Bellator 194 in the quarterfinals of the Bellator Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
47.
Matt Mitrione went on to win the fight by way of majority decision, avenging his prior loss to Nelson in the process.
48.
Matt Mitrione faced Ryan Bader in the semi-finals at Bellator 207 on October 12,2018.
49.
Matt Mitrione returned to face Sergei Kharitonov in the main event at Bellator 215 on February 15,2019.
50.
Matt Mitrione faced Kharitonov in an immediate rematch six months later at Bellator 225 on August 24,2019.
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Matt Mitrione next faced Timothy Johnson on August 7,2020, at Bellator 243.
52.
Matt Mitrione lost the fight via technical knockout in the first round.
53.
Matt Mitrione was expected to face Tyrell Fortune on April 2,2021, at Bellator 255.
54.
Matt Mitrione lost the bout after submitting to strikes in the first round.
55.
Matt Mitrione protested the stoppage due to an accidental clash of heads that occurred before Fortune secured a takedown.
56.
However, the opponents were switched and Matt Mitrione faced boxer Alexander Flores at the event.
57.
Matt Mitrione is friends with Drew Brees, as the two were teammates at Purdue University from 1997 to 2001 and members of Joe Tiller's first recruiting class.
58.
Matt Mitrione is close friends with former NFL tight end Jeremy Shockey, who was his teammate while playing for the New York Giants.
59.
Matt Mitrione had a role in the 2015 movie "Street" starring Beau "Casper" Smart.
60.
Matt Mitrione has participated in an anti-bullying program with UFC fighters Sean Pierson, Mark Hominick, and Sam Stout in Toronto, Canada.