UFC 113: Kimbo Slice Vs Matt Mitrione: Preview & Prediction

Heavyweight bout:

 Kimbo Slice (4-1-0)
vs.

 Matt Mitrione (1-0-0)

Fighting Styles
Slice – Boxing/Street Fighting
Mitrione – Boxing

* This is a preview for one of the fights on the UFC 113 Fight Card, to see all fight previews with predictions click here: UFC 113: Machida vs. Shogun 2 - Preview and Predictions *

Silce				Mitrione
5 matches	4 W	1 L		1 match	1 W	0 L
By knockout	2	1		By knockout	1	0
By submission	1	0		By submission	0	0
By decision	1	0		By decision	0	0

Kimbo Slice will technically have his first ‘official heavyweight fight’ in the UFC because his previous fight was at the ‘TUF 10 Finale’ held on Spike TV against Houston Alexander at a catch-weight of 215 lbs. Kimbo won with a unanimous decision victory over Alexander in a fight that many thought would not leave the first round but Alexander would instead spend most of the first and third rounds circling Slice tentatively with little engagement.

During the 2nd, round Slice landed a back suplex on Alexander, which very well may have tipped the judges’ scorecards in his favour. On the ‘TUF Season 10′, if you didn’t watch the season, it was the first episode in which the future ‘TUF 10′ champ Roy ‘Big Country’ Nelson decided he would throw himself on top of Slice similar to beached whale before he locked in a crucifix in an extremely boring fight.

Dana never (bluntly) said it, but he was not impressed at how Kimbo was eliminated from the tournament and when Matt Mitrione started complaining of head-aches mid-way through the season, the show made it as if Kimbo was set to make his return and take Mitrione’s place. Slice would not fight due to arthritis in his knee and promised to fight later on at the Finale.

The victory over Alexander was decisive but Alexander tried to avoid any contact with Kimbo and it eventually led to his dismissal from the UFC just days after the event. Prior to Dana White practically making an entire season of the Ultimate Fighter specifically for Kimbo, Slice appeared on Exite XC and had three wins over Bo Cantrell, Tank Abbott and James Thompson before losing to Seth Petruzelli in what was the event that put Elite XC in bankruptcy.

I’ve watched all Kimbo’s fights (and his YouTube street fights) and what can’t be denied is he has improved as a martial artist more and more everytime he moves towards his next fight. The good thing for Kimbo is that he isn’t fighting the likes of Brock Lesnar, Shane Carwin or Cain Velasquez (Mirtione is less experienced than Kimbo himself).

Matt Mitrione or better known as “Meathead” after Rashad Evans pinned him with the nickname on Season 10 of ‘The Ultimate Fighter’ and to be quite honest, there isn’t much to talk about (mixed-martial arts wise) on the big loaf. He stands at six feet four inches and weighs in at the maximum weight for heavyweights at 265 lbs.

Mitrione was known as ‘a rat’ on his season of ‘TUF’ because he would let the opposing team know what the upcoming fights were going to be and because of this Team Rashad kept Mitrione out of the loop. After being picked second to last by Evans, Matt fought and defeated Scott Junk via unanimous decision (19-19, 20-18 and 20-18), moving him on to the quarter finals. He outfought Junk, utilizing his significant reach and height advantage.

Mitrione will have a two inch advantage height-wise over Kimbo as well as a four inch reach advantage but the numbers he held over Junk were even more superior.

In the quarterfinals, which was when Mitrione was complaining about dizziness and migraines, he ultimately decided to fight James McSweeney much to the dismay of the Dana White, millions of fans and the entire house. In a fight which McSweeney was a clear favourite, he submitted ‘Meathead’ via guillotine choke in an extremely disappointing fight.

After staying quiet for the remainder of the season, Matt made his professional MMA debut at ‘TUF: Season 10 Finale’ defeating Marcus Jones via knockout early in the second round. Marcus Jones, the same guy who is an avid gardener and questioned whether or not he wanted to fight.

Not impressive to me... not at all and if Mitrione was an extreme underdog to James McSweeney, it can only mean one thing… finally a knock-out by Kimbo Slice.

TheCoach’s Pick: SLICE via Knock-out