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Matt Mitrione talks about why he turned down fight with Daniel Cormier

4K views 36 replies 17 participants last post by  hellholming 
#1 ·

With the way the injury plague has hit the Zuffa family, it's virtually impossible to keep a card intact from the time the fights are matched until event night. Replacement opponents are a necessity, but seem to be in short supply, of late. Whole cards from both the UFC and Strikeforce have been cancelled, and now another Strikeforce main event is in jeopardy. Frank Mir was forced to pull out of his November 3rd meeting with heavyweight champion, Daniel Cormier more than two weeks ago, and a replacement has still not been named.

Dana White stated that the fight was offered to Matt Mitrione, but had been declined, and not much explanation was given. When a bout is offered to a fighter on short notice, several things need to be considered, most importantly, the level of competition should be factored in first. Cormier isn't just any guy. He's a former Olympian with outstanding wrestling skills and very good hand speed and knockout power. After the whole debacle with UFC 151, I've come to appreciate athletes that weigh the options and make choices that are best for their careers.

Mitrione has been remarkably silent over the last few days, so I reached out to him through his manager, Glenn Robinson of Authentic Sports Management. Over the course of a very brief e-mail interview, I got Matt's reasoning behind not taking the fight, and further explored his recent beef with Rampage Jackson. The interview, in it's entirety is as follows:

Stephie Daniels: In your own words, why did you turn down the fight with Daniel Cormier?

Matt Mitrione: First, I want to thank Dana White and Joe Silva for even offering that fight. It was an honor to get that call, and I would love to fight Daniel Cormier, but I'm just not ready right now. He has Olympic level wrestling, and although I have spent a great deal of time working on my wresting, I don't feel it would be my best fight back after such a long layoff. UFC worked hard to get me a fight this year, but my old opponent had visa issues and it caused additional time out of the cage. Wrestling is, by far, my weakest skill. I'm working hard on my wrestling, but it would be a huge weakness against me in a short notice fight against Cormier.

Stephie Daniels: Does the fact that this fight would have been in Strikeforce, which is noticeably deteriorating at a rapid rate, have anything to do with your choice to not fight Cormier?

Matt Mitrione: Not at all, if I thought I was ready for Cormier, I would fight him in Strikeforce or the UFC, or wherever.

Stephie Daniels: If Cormier had already been in the UFC, thus making this a higher profile fight, would you have been more inclined to take the fight?

Matt Mitrione: Whether this fight was in the UFC or Strikeforce makes no difference to me. I turned down Cormier the fighter, not the fight organization.

Stephie Daniels: Some fans have a knee-jerk reaction to want to blame the guy that turns down a short notice fight, regardless of the circumstances and reasoning. Does that bother you at all, and how do you address the negativity that can sometimes run off the rails in this sport?

Matt Mitrione: The way I look at it, a fan is a fan and I'll take the good and the bad that goes with having fans. It is a great honor to have fans care about me. The UFC wouldn't be where it is without the fans, and it's good that they are educated enough about the sport to make these complaints. The way I address the negativity is just to fight and win fights and constantly push myself.

Stephie Daniels: You have mentioned on a few occasions that you're interested in fighting Rampage Jackson, and I read somewhere that you even expressed interest in fighting Jon Jones. Are you serious in that contemplation, and does it mark a possible move down to 205?

Matt Mitrione: I'm going to stay at a heavyweight. I was willing to come down in weight a little to fight Rampage because it seemed like a fun and exciting fight to me. However, if Jones decided to move up to heavyweight I would fight him. That definitely seems like a fun and exciting fight to me. BUT, I wasn't going to light heavyweight. I wanted Rampage to come up to heavyweight and was willing to fight him at 235.
Bloodyelbow
 
#2 ·
Stephie Daniels: Does the fact that this fight would have been in Strikeforce, which is noticeably deteriorating at a rapid rate, have anything to do with your choice to not fight Cormier?

Matt Mitrione: Not at all, if I thought I was ready for Cormier, I would fight him in Strikeforce or the UFC, or wherever.

Stephie Daniels: If Cormier had already been in the UFC, thus making this a higher profile fight, would you have been more inclined to take the fight?

Matt Mitrione: Whether this fight was in the UFC or Strikeforce makes no difference to me. I turned down Cormier the fighter, not the fight organization.
Lol.

This is the type of reporter that you are just like "No dude wtf! I just told you that isnt the case!"
 
#4 ·
At least he was straight up. Basically he openly stated that he's not at Cormier's level. His win over Barnett was very impressive. I've never seen Barnett get outgrappled like that before!
 
#8 ·
Haha, Mitrione's a humble guy, acknowledges he's not trying to bite off more than he can chew and wants to work for his wins and learn as he goes; respect. Everyone knows a fight against Cormier on short notice is basically suicide...just a simple pay day for anyone willing to take the beating.
 
#9 ·
You know, ever since he came off of The Ultimate Fighter, I've been a pretty big fan of ol' Meathead. At first I didn't think he really had much of a personality, but the more I hear from him, the more I think he's a pretty cool, level headed guy. I think he knows he's only mid tier at this point in his career, and taking the Cormier fight on short notice would be a poor decision. I hope we get to see him fight in the near future though.

Also, I hope someone steps up and fights Cormier so we don't have another UFC 151 type situation. Is Werdum up to anything right now? He could use this fight. I think a victory over Cormier could put him right up in title contention. Then again I guess that'd make him the Strikeforce champ and tie him up there for a while..... Huh. This cross-promotion stuff could throw a real wrench in things.
 
#13 ·
Not that different.

This fight is to save a main event heavy card, so was that.

Jones had everything to lose and nothing to gain, so does Mitrione or anyone who steps up on short notice for nothing but a few brownie points with completely ungrateful short-memory fans and boss.

Jones hadn't been training for a guy known for his MMA takedowns, neither has Matt. Jones though had only a week to train specifically for Chael, Mitrione would have more than a month.

The main difference is this fight is being offered around to more than one fighter (imagine that!) and Mitrione isn't being scapegoated. Also Cormier doesn't happen to be the best friend of the guy that mysteriously hid his injury for weeks before pulling out, and also a trash talking douche who didn't deserve the shot in the least, but lets overlook that as well.
 
#30 ·
Wow what a douchebag radio host clearly cutting off the quote and taking it out of context.

So Jones spends the whole interview saying how he would basically not gift the guy a shot for talking, then the host "sells" the fight, Jones starts saying yeah of course he would take the fight and beat the crap out of Chael ....KKKKHHHRRRR *CUE STUPID RADIO THEME*.

There wasn't even a 1/4 second pause between Jones last word and the abrupt cutoff, it's obvious the cut off point was deliberate and taking the quote out of context. Why would Jones flip flop his entire stance from the SAME interview and the last few months just because this moron "sells" him on it?

Jones has been saying for a while he would have no problem fighting and destroying Chael ONCE he earned his shot, but if you cut off the "once he earned his shot" part ... TADAA, reality TV magic, fresh served for low IQ haters waiting for dinner.
Lmao..

I find it hard to believe that you even believe your own bs.

The quote is there.

You can put your fingers in your ears and yell LALALALALALA but that does not change the truth.
 
#14 ·
gotta agree with liddellianenko. This is not the same situation as jones/chael but a crap ton of fighters were saying they would fight anyone at anytime for ________(insert reason)

In no way am I saying that this is the same situation but there are still more people on this thread already who are saying that mittrione is smart for thinking about his career and not taking unnecessary risks than anyone standing up for jones even though Jones had nothing to gain and everything to lose where mittrione and other fighters being offered this fight are turning it down even though they have the possibility of a belt and the progression of their careers. Just think it is funny how quickly people turn.
 
#17 ·
I think Jones should have taken the fight and understand why Mittrione has declined this fight. He should have kept his mouth shut though.

But the situations are completely different.
Chael is a good matchup for Jones. He should handle Sonnen without that many problems. He knows this and has said, that he can beat Chael anytime.
Cormier is a very bad matchup for Mittrione. He says this himself and thinks, that he has no or very little chance of winning. How do you go into a fight, knowing you have nothing for your opponent?

Let's say both Mittrione and Chael have a 10% Chance of winning and look at the risks of taking their fights:

- Mittrione wins 1 out of 10 times (less to lose more to win - huge opportunity)
- Jones wins 9 out of 10 times (more to lose but nothing to win - but champion)
[percentages just as an example, impossible to create realistic numbers :thumb02:]

-> completely different situations.
 
#23 · (Edited)
Mitione denying short notice fight =/= Chael Sonnen taking a short notice fight

I could see a comparison between Chael and Mitrione here, but to compare Jon Jones to Mitrione doesn't make sense.

Both Mitrione and Chael were offered short notice fights. Chael is a ******* badass and took it, we can ponder our brains off about why he took a fight on short notice like that; Chael is probably one of the smartest guys in MMA right now with the way he carries himself, but it did wonders for his image. The truth is Chael Sonnen should have denied the short notice fight with Jon Jones, it is suicide for anyone in the LHW division to take a fight that late against Jon Jones of all people...then you have to take into account the repercussions of losing an unearned title shot, and how you usually only get 2 title shots in a weight class before you're just termed a high level gate keeper of the division. A reasonable person would not take the fight against Jones on one weeks notice.

Then we have Mitrione, who sees things realistically and realizes that although he'd be helping the UFC out tremendously and giving the fans a show, he's basically getting paid to lose a fight and welcome a ******* monster into the HW division on a weeks notice who will destroy him.

Jon Jones refusing the Chael fight is only comparable to Cormier refusing to fight Mitrione had he taken the fight. Both Chael and Mitrione did not have training camps, and both were offered a fight on short notice. Jon Jones and Cormier both lost their opponents due to an injury and the UFC was forced to find a replacement.
 
#24 ·
No Chael got a UFC title shot for free (oh wait he talked some stupid shit on twitter nm he earned it). He had nothing to lose. ANYONE would take that free title fight, unless they expected to get a legit title shot soon anyway (like Machida). Nothing badass about it.

Mitrione is getting a useless SF title shot which no one cares about anymore after the merger (doesn't exactly bring the $$$ running in), and his stock falls a lot if he loses. His situation is a lot more similar to Jones than Chael when it comes to risk:reward/stakes.

You guys are reading too much into the "replacee/replacer" semantics. In poker the stakes don't change depending on whether you're the one raising a $1000 hand or calling it ... the stakes for you depend on what cards you hold. Jones and Mitrione held similar "cards" when it came to risks.
 
#26 ·
Im respecting Mitrione for his reason's here and I think Jones pulled a punk move and I'll explain why.

Mitrione openly admits that his skills are not on the level of Daniel Cormier and in a round about way admits that Cormier would likely out class him. I think its safe to say that Mitrione would have been a huge underdog here and is trying to be careful with his record. Matt basically says not just no because its short notice, but no all around about fighting Cormier right now. Not ballsy, but I understand.

Now with Jones, why would you turn down fighting Chael when you have been training for Dan Henderson? Jon Jones would've been an even BIGGER favorite over Chael than his original opponent. And yes, people had already spent thousands of hard earned dollars for flights, hotels and tickets to go to see Jon Jones fight but he refuses. Forget the UFC and the undercard guys, the people that got screwed out of UFC 151 were the fans that had spent money planning to go.

Mitrione was offered to take a fight on a card that he wasnt already on and take a huge step up in competition and he said no. He admits that hes not good enough yet. Jon Jones was already set up to fight that day and his original opponent dropped, he got offered an (imo easier) opponent and said no, pretty much because he could. His logic doesnt make since to me. I think Chael could train every day for a year nothing but wrestling, Jones trains nothing but striking for a year, and Chael would likely still not score a take down. Jones didnt take this fight because he didnt have to. And screwed tons of fans by doing turning it down. Mitrione had no obligations for even fighting for Strikeforce, let alone Cormier on that day.

In conclusion, Mitrione and Jones are apples and oranges. Mitrione is admittedly scared. Jones was probably drunk.
 
#36 ·
I fully agree. People need to quit being butt hurt over what took place at UFC 151 and just get over it. We don't need people bringing it up every time someone pulls out of a fight just because they are are not smart enough to see the differences or because they are still upset.

This thread has nothing to do with Jones.


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