Struve's takedowns and slickness at getting the fight to the ground are fairly underrated. Didn't he take down Mark Hunt in their fight? I know he was on top in the 1st. I think it was via takedown. If he plays to his strengths and Mitrione hasn't upped his ground game, I smell a sub.
Why is everybody doubting that Mitrione could be in top 10? I think he is still improving and has a lot of potential.
He's too much of a turtle on his back and I haven't seen the takedown defense he would need to overcome that. Plus, for a HW, he keeps his hands low. Roy Nelson should have taught him to keep them up. Plus, I think he's like Travis Browne, in that he just uses his athleticism to strike and doesn't really set things up.
Mitrione's ground game:
-Getting slammed by Kimbo
-Getting a gift standup against that football player
-Getting saved by the bell in the first round against Joey Beltran
-Getting battered by Cheick Kongo in the third round
-Getting subbed by Schaub
I haven't seen him scramble up or show really good takedown defense. I guess, it was OK against De Fries(That was just weird. KO by sprawl), Jordan, and Beltran after the first round, but that's a limited sample. Plus, those guys didn't try that hard or were at a size disadvantage. The guys I've seen try to takedown Mitrione without being gassed have done so successfully. And when he's on his back, he doesn't get up.