Matt Mitrione to Bellator heavyweights: 'You’re not doing enough'

Matt Mitrione

For Matt Mitrione, stirring the pot is nothing new. So even though Bellator’s newest free-agent acquisition doesn’t even have a fight booked, it comes as no surprise that he’s already shaking up things at his new company.

On the road to promote and prepare for his upcoming promotional debut, which will actually come in the broadcast booth rather than the cage, Mitrione has never shied away from the camera. Bellator is banking on the recent signee, an adept conversationalist and jovial wisecracker, to rescue its heavyweight division from relative anonymity, and Mitrione is obliging by ruffling feathers wherever he can.

“Who deserves the belt right now in the heavyweight division? Who’s shown that they’re clear cut … I don’t know,” Mitrione said. “If nobody deserves to have it, it’s a non-conversation.”

Mitrione, who has been with Bellator for less than four weeks now and is hoping to fight at the promotion’s June 24 Bellator 157 event in St. Louis, is already quite familiar with a pair of new colleagues. Having knocked out Kevin “Kimbo Slice” Ferguson, Bellator’s ratings king, in just his second professional MMA fight, Mitrione also previously went the distance, in a losing effort, with Cheick Kongo back in 2011.

And while rematches have been a major theme in MMA in 2016, Mitrione is not particularly interested in a second go-round with either man.

“Cheick, I could care less about that fight,” Mitrione said. “(In our) first fight, he ran around for two-and-a-half rounds. … I have no desire to fight somebody that doesn’t want to fight. That’s not what they brought me here (to do). As far as Kimbo … it’s a paycheck, and it’s a name. … I’ll whoop his ass again.”

The decision to hand Mitrione, a man with an earned reputation for making inappropriate and controversial statements, the microphone is a risky proposition for Bellator and parent company Viacom. But three years after the verbose heavyweight tested the upper limits of the decency threshold for comments made about transgender fighter Fallon Fox, Mitrione is bringing a new poise and maturity to his verbal approach.

Bellator, in return, is granting Mitrione the space and guidance he needs to further develop his on-air persona and resonate with Spike viewers.

“I had a couple of meetings with Bellator execs,” said Mitrione, who’ll provide the color alongside play-by-play man Sean Grande. “They said, ‘You can say whatever you want. You don’t have to worry about the warlord cutting your fingers off (at Bellator).”

Freely admitting that the unflattering metaphor is aimed as a dig at his former employers, the UFC, Mitrione has been outspoken for the majority of his MMA career, which began as a cast member on Spike’s “The Ultimate Fighter.” And just this past week, he made headlines regarding his most recent contract negotiations, offering a detailed, one-sided account of his dealings with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta.

Already considering retiring if a new contract didn’t meet his financial expectations, Mitrione contemplated returning to corporate America, where he worked, briefly, after his NFL playing days were over. But when Bellator chimed in with its offer, the Blackzilians representative and father of three took the bait, partially in hopes of winning the Fedor Emelianenko lottery; Bellator’s sister promotion Rizin FC owns the rights to the legendary Russian fighter’s current contract.

“If (Fedor) ever said my name out loud, I would be so happy to fight him,” an almost-giddy Mitrione said. “I respect him entirely too much to call him out but … I’d dance with him in a heartbeat.”

For now, Mitrione is focused on his broadcast debut, which coincides with Bellator’s newest combat offering, a kickboxing card, on April 16 that will air a week later, immediately following an April 22 MMA card that features a welterweight title fight between former UFC champion Benson Henderson and current titleholder Andrey Koreshkov. In order to prepare for the booth, Mitrione has been devouring footage and tape with renowned Dutch striking coach Henri Hooft.

And while Mitrione, who turns 38 in July, is primarily concerned with the financial incentives of prize fighting at this point, he’s not ruling out a run at the championship. Ultimately, he may have no choice other than to fight for belt, since none of his contemporaries have distinguished themselves enough to call for a title shot.

“People are just bull(expletive) around and haven’t shown … that they deserve to fight for this title,” Mitrione said. “You’re not doing enough.”

For more on Bellator’s upcoming schedule, check out the MMA Rumors section of the site.

Dan Shapiro has covered MMA for Fightland, the Huffington Post and other outlets. Follow him on Twitter at @dannyshap.