Matt Mitrione and Travis Browne entered UFC Fight Night 81 at a career crossroads.
Mitrione walked into the cage with free agency in mind. Openly discussing his intent to test the market, this bout would determine if suitors would see him as a fringe top-10 player, or a 37-year-old coming off back-to-back losses.
Browne's situation was quite different, though. Despite his solid 8-3-1 UFC record, poorly timed losses have consistently kept him from moving too deeply into the top-10 rankings. 1-2 over his last three, with his most recent loss coming via devastating knockout, he needed a win to maintain a spot among the heavyweight's elite class.
Fascinated by this one, Browne-Mitrione. Both had hellacious 2015s for diff reasons, both in need of a W. Last fight on contract for MM ...
— Ariel Helwani (@arielhelwani) January 18, 2016
Obviously, one of them would be dealt a tough blow in this fight. That one would be Mitrione.
Neither man wowed the other in the first. Both respected the others' power with Mitrione applying pressure utilizing combinations, and Browne attempting to ply his reach advantage. While neither landed much in terms of volume, both successfully asserted their power.
An eye poke at the end of the first round would, unfortunately, set the tone for the second. As Mitrione pressed forward, Browne once again went knuckle deep into Mitrione's eye, breaking the round in half on the scorecards.
When action was reset, a whiffed superman punch from Mitrione would turn into a successful Browne takedown.
While Mitrione would escape several submission attempts, those precious moments of top control put him into a difficult position on the scorecards.
Oddly, Mitrione entered the third flat, which eventually led to a firm right cross from Browne. That one shot sucked out any steam that may have been left in the veteran and instantly turned him into a punching bag.
Browne went on offense in a big way from there, wrenching Mitrione to the ground and landing in mount.
Mitrione would try and buck his way out, but Browne stayed on top and landed hellish strikes from top position. The ref would call things off at 4:09 of Round 3.
Here are some notes and thoughts from this fight:
- This fight will go down as a win for Browne, but this can be labeled as a "dirty" victory for Hapa. The two eye pokes completely changed the progression of the fight, and Mitrione popped up at the end, sporting two nasty, visible injuries.
- All that said, Mitrione shouldn't feel too cheated in defeat. His offense was, at best, sloppy, and he didn't land any particularly hard shots on Browne. While he put on a decent show, this performance was telling in regards to his place in the division.
- As stated, this is an incredibly difficult loss for Mitrione. The UFC will most likely be completely content in letting him head to Bellator or WSOF, and that directly translates to a smaller payday for him.
