Why Could Mitrione Never Do Better in the UFC?

Gabe

Gabe

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I've always liked Mitrione and thought that he was very athletic and fast for a heavyweight. It also impressed me how well his record was for someone who made his pro debut in the UFC. For some reason though he always fell short when he was on a good run. Lost a boring decision to Kongo, was put to sleep by Schaub (lol), and got choked out by Rothwell. For all his physical attributes, why could Mitrione never climb further up the rankings?
 
Honestly I think he is a nice guy to the point that it effects his ability to win among the best. I don't think he wants to get out there and break fuckin' skulls like a lot of fighters.
 
He started late and didn't have a combat sports background so he never had time to develop a top tier skillset. Kind of like Browne or a male Bethe... still enough to beat the GOAT though! ;)
 
He's not that good. Was always a decent athlete and a so so fighter.
 
Gabe said:
I've always liked Mitrione and thought that he was very athletic and fast for a heavyweight. It also impressed me how well his record was for someone who made his pro debut in the UFC. For some reason though he always fell short when he was on a good run. Lost a boring decision to Kongo, was put to sleep by Schaub (lol), and got choked out by Rothwell. For all his physical attributes, why could Mitrione never climb further up the rankings?
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He had a pretty good run in the UFC.. also Schaub was not that bad of a fighter.. for some reason people just hate on him here.

Matt was/is a good top 5 gatekeeper imo, nothing to be ashamed about.
 
He had a good UFC career and honestly I think he's still getting better.

That Travis Browne fight was some bullshit.. the UFC should have kept him.
 
ElCasca said:
Cause that's his level
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-He started late
-Retired from football due to injuries
-Fedor in 2017 is a Maldonado level win
 
Grijswaarde said:
He had a pretty good run in the UFC.. also Schaub was not that bad of a fighter.. for some reason people just hate on him here.

Matt was/is a good top 5 gatekeeper imo, nothing to be ashamed about.
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I kind of agree with this, but I think accepting being a gatekeeper at HW is a terrible life choice.

edit: I think even Schaub could have hung around, get a few losses, a few wins, but with this HW division, that could turn into a HW title shot.

But getting punched in the head by HWs cannot be fun.
 
The guy is not only an athlete but he's a natural striker, however he peaked super early. I see no reason to believe he would have been much better if he started earlier because he doesn't seem to have a mind for the game.

You could see the limits of his game against someone who is also big and fast like Browne, who I thought made Mitrione's striking look completely ineffective even before the eye pokes ruined the fight. And this was against a tailor made matchup because Browne opts to stand up.

I do like to watch him fight though and he always has great matchups with brawlers out there.
 
When Matt Mitrione fought Travis Browne in January of 2016 Browne was ranked #7. Matt was kicking his ass and easily winning the fight during the first 2 rounds. Then Travis started pulling a Moe
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blinding Matt so he could pull off a win. If Browne hadn't started with the dirty tricks Matt could easily possibly be in the top 5. Don't forget Matt KO'd Derrick The Black Beast" Lewis in 41 seconds of the first round.
 
SuperNerd said:
I kind of agree with this, but I think accepting being a gatekeeper at HW is a terrible life choice.
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Not everybody is meant to be the best in the world. But, they can still earn a good living, and get a good share of wins. In most other sports. A winning percentage of .700, or whatever, is considered to be VERY good.

And who knows...

Being a gatekeeper worked out pretty fuckin well for Bisping. One little stroke of luck at the right time. Suddenly, he's a UFC champion. And he had already had higher disclosed career earnings, than any other fighter in UFC history.

It's all a matter of context. And common sense.
 
The guest said:
Not everybody is meant to be the best in the world. But, they can still earn a good living, and get a good share of wins. In most other sports. A winning percentage of .700, or whatever, is considered to be VERY good.

And who knows...

Being a gatekeeper worked out pretty fuckin well for Bisping. One little stroke of luck at the right time. Suddenly, he's a UFC champion. And he had already had higher disclosed career earnings, than any other fighter in UFC history.

It's all a matter of context. And common sense.
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Sure but I think the risks go up 10x at HW
 
because he is only pretty good good fighter. a very tough fighter (wiki tells me he was fighting in Toughman in high school - not than any of you youngsters know what that is), but i believe he didn't really start training MMA until after football, in his mid 20's.

no shame in being only the 8th or 12th best or so in the world. but he was never a top 5 fighter. no shame whatsoever.
 
Mitrione is a great athletic striker, but has a horrible ground game

He beats strikers (Black Beast, Fedor, was beating Travis Browne til he got blinded) but he loses to wrestlers who take him down (Schaub, Rothwell) etc
 
Gabe said:
I've always liked Mitrione and thought that he was very athletic and fast for a heavyweight. It also impressed me how well his record was for someone who made his pro debut in the UFC. For some reason though he always fell short when he was on a good run. Lost a boring decision to Kongo, was put to sleep by Schaub (lol), and got choked out by Rothwell. For all his physical attributes, why could Mitrione never climb further up the rankings?
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He did pretty well in this ufc. He's not champ material probably but he can KO just about anyone.
 
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