Matt Mitrione is Legit After UFC 119, But is He a Future Title Contender?

If you ever questioned whether or not Matt Mitrione was really more "for real" than Kimbo Slice, his UFC 119 preliminary bout last night against Joey "The Mexicutioner" Beltran was your chance for some proof that he is in fact legit.

He did what few thought he would do and he not only went three rounds with a legitimate fighter, but he beat him by a unanimous decision when all three judges scored the bout 29-28 for Mitrione.

He's modest for a guy that came off as the "douchebag" on Season Ten of The Ultimate Fighter and picked a bone with guys like Marcus Jones on the show.

Now, he's a guy who realizes that he's still just coming up in the UFC and that he's nowhere near a level where it'd be plausible to think he can find a way to easily dismember the likes of Junior Dos Santos, Cain Velasquez, Shane Carwin, fellow TUF 10 castmate Roy Nelson, or Brock Lesnar, and as long as he gets to fight, he doesn't mind that staying the same for the time being.

“Whoever they decide is a good matchup for me, I’ll go in there and try to adapt to it and work on whatever I’ve got to work on. Hopefully I’ll be 4–0 and 5–0 and getting that piece of gold sooner or later.”

Unlike current UFC Heavyweight Champ Brock Lesnar, Mitrione hasn't lost a fight yet, nor has he been thrown to only the top contenders of the 265-pound division, so I would think if anyone believes that Mitrione will somehow become a top contender one day, he's currently on a good path towards an eventual shot at the belt.

Mitrione will always be focused on one facet of his game, which is the kickboxing facet of his game, and he'll always have Duke Roufus, Pat Barry, Anthony Pettis, Alan Belcher, and the boys at Roufusport to help him out with that aspect, as well as his Jiu-Jitsu.

It wasn't only the confidence in his coaches that kept him going for the full three rounds of the fight with Beltran.

As a matter of fact, the crowd played something of a role themselves.

“The crowd was really impressive. It must have been pretty disheartening for Joey. Every time he’d get punched the crowd would erupt and every time he would punch me it would just be crickets. At least that’s what it felt like.

"That has to kind of suck. You drop a great shot on me and then it’s like hmmm… It was awesome. The crowd chanting “Meathead” and blah blah blah. It was one of the best feelings I’ve ever had in my entire life. Second to my children being born that was just lovely, just lovely.”

While Mitrione was born in Illinois and although the Roufusport camp trains in Milwaukee, Wisconsin, the crowd in Indianapolis was indeed a pro-Mitrione crowd, as many fans did soundly recall Mitrione's days as a defensive tackle at Purdue.

Now the 32-year-old fighter will be looking to battle the whole barrel of warriors that inhabit the Heavyweight division of the UFC, but it won't come easy.

Mitrione knows that, and he also knows it won't come without him making a few mistakes along the way either.

“It’s funny. Every time I’m up here I always say the same thing, but I made so many mistakes. This time I made so many mistakes stand-up-wise.”

What makes Mitrione the fighter that he is, compared to other fighters who save face by making a white little excuse as to why they lost a fight or were in danger of a fight, is that Mitrione admits when he's in danger, admits when he slips up, and he always looks to correct it for the next time he fights.

Speaking of the next time he fights, I think I have an idea of where he may want to look towards in terms of his next fight.

We know it won't be Sean McCorkle, because Mitrione has stated that the two are friends and therefore he believes that McCorkle will kick his ass.

While Meathead may not have a clear idea of who he wants next, I'd say a fight with someone like a Stefan Struve or a Mike Russow—anyone who is coming off of an impressive showing and has beaten a top fighter or two, yet is not quite close to contention at the moment.

I say let Meathead fight them and prove that he may be the next champion at their expense, and if he can put away guys like Russow, Struve, Travis Browne, and other guys who are solid fighters at 265 but not contenders, that's when you move him up.

That's when you talk about Mitrione against Frank Mir, against Mirko Cro Cop, against Cheick Kongo, against Roy Nelson, against any person in the UFC's Heavyweight division who can call themselves a contender and who isn't named Pat Barry or Sean McCorkle.

If MItrione can at least leave an argument behind that he did enough to beat his opponent in the cage, then sooner or later, only one comment might be appropriate when talking about Meathead:

"Please Dana, give Mitrione a title shot."

He may not be the best in the world right now, but in time, this man could be our new Heavyweight Champ in the UFC.

When that day comes, who knows how dominant Meathead might be as a fighter?