Matt Mitrione doesn’t like champ-champ fights
Matt Mitrione was in the Bellator heavyweight Grand Prix in which he lost in the second round to eventual winner, Ryan Bader. However, Bader is not a heavyweight, rather he is a light heavyweight who moved up to try and become a champ-champ. Well, he did exactly that. However, Mitrione isn’t happy about it because he now has held up two divisions, which most champ-champ’s do.
“I think about it, right? I’m happy for those individuals,” Mitrione said on 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.”
Another reason why Mitrione was mad about it, is the fact many believed he should have been the champion anyway. Mitrione was running through the entire division and believes they didn’t need a tournament. Rather, they could have had a championship fight with two natural heavyweights.
“[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. It’s just a totally different animal if, for example, when Rory MacDonald tried to fight [Gegard] Mousasi. Rory is not a 185er, he’s a 170. Mousasi is a 185er that fights at 205 sometimes. But, he’ll go out there and demolish someone like that, because wrestlers typically have that skill set they’ve developed at 185 or 170 or even a 205er.”
