411 MMA Interviews: Matt Mitrione

Posted by Jeffrey Harris on 09.27.2009

More from the exclusive 411mania.com interview series for The Ultimate Fighter. The latest subject is Team Rashad Evans member and former NFL player, Matt Mitrione.

This season of the popular SpikeTV reality series, The Ultimate Fighter, is already the highest rated season in the show's history. One of the new faces this season is Matt Mitrione, a former NFL player and defensive lineman for the New York Giants:



Jeffrey Harris: How did MMA start for you and how did the opportunity come about for you to be on the show?

Matt Mitrione: A good friend of mine who plays baseball for the Philadelphia Phillies, Jason Werth, he's an All-Star right fielder, he promotes fights in our hometown, Freeport, IL. He has a production company called 28 Productions. So he called me up and said that he was going to put on a fight and wanted to know if I would jump on it. I grew up fighting and I was kind of known to be a puncher, and so I knew I was amateur status, so I told him yeah sure, no problem. So I started training. I knew Chris Lytle was from Indianapolis. I knew Jake O'Brien was from Indianapolis. So I just kind of sought those two out, got into a gym, and then here I am. After about, probably like 7 months, maybe like 8 months of training . . . actually as soon as I got into the gym I like tore my meniscus and I had to have knee surgery on it. So I was out for like three months as soon as I got in the gym. And then four months after being back, I got a bunch of text messages one day asking if I was going to Seattle yadda yadda yadda and when I finally found out what they were talking about, that they were referring to TUF 10 needing heavyweights, so that's kind of what started the process.

JH: Is it daunting that you are coming into the house and a lot of guys have fought on the big stage before and some of them have fought in the UFC before and at a high level and maybe being in the presence of people like Roy Nelson, Wes Sims, or what not? Were you in any way intimidated?

MM: No, not whatsoever actually. And the reason for that is, I'm very new to the fight game. So I don't know a lot of fighters. I don't know who a lot of fighters are. I'm always asking Jake O'Brien, my training partner, I'm always asking him who's that guy? Who's this guy? Who's he for? What's he do? You know? I have no clue about all these people so I had no idea. So as far as I knew, they were just as green and just as new as I am. So it didn't bother me one bit. And as I found out about it, I couldn't care less. I've played in front of hundred thousands of people before, like 110,000 people. My hometown could fit inside the Big House, Michigan State. So, fighting someone with experience or being in front of a crowd, that wouldn't bother me one bit. I don't think I would get any stage fright from it.

JH: What was your impression of Rashad Evans and Greg Jackson as your coaches and trainers?

MM: I was so happy to be on that team. Going in, they didn't show it yesterday, but going in I approached Rashad, I was like, "Hey look. I need to be on your team because I don't know anything about wrestling because wrestling is my limiting factor. And I need as much help as possible. Rampage I'm sure is going to be cool, which he is cool as a fan, but I need work on wrestling. I think you'd be the guy to help me out." You know to be honest with you, I didn't really know who Greg Jackson was, but I would've guessed that was him when I met him, but I didn't know for sure about him. But the more I found out about him, what he's done, what he's accomplished, how much of a strategist he is, I was tickled. I was extremely impressed with all the credentialing that they had. It was unbelievable.

JH: So now you know who Greg Jackson is, yeah?

MM: I *most* definitely know who Greg Jackson is now.

JH: I imagine they tore you apart a little bit.

MM: You know what they did, but most of the times they were actually pretty cool. They realized that I was just really green. One day we had a photo shoot and this dude had a phenomenal book. It was a picture book and it was all like before and after photos or just mid-fight photos. And we'd look at it and they'd be like, do you know who this guy is? No. Do you know who this guy is? Yes, that's Royce Gracie, I know who Royce Gracie. Well how about this? No. Well That's Mike Swick. And we'd go through all this stuff, and there's a ton of guys I know because of who they were. I know a couple of obscure guys, but I know like Chuck Liddell, probably like the fan favorites, but there people like I had no clue. And they'd just pop out names, like this is this guy and he fought this person and this person. I mean it was like MMA 101 for me for the most part.

JH: Being in the house with a lot of long-time veterans, were you all cool with them, and were they helpful to you, you think?

MM: They were, they were . . . yeah, absolutely they were. And the coolest part was, aside from strategy, everyone in the house got along. Strategy made some enemies, made people do this, made people do that. But personality wise, we pretty much all got along. There might've been a couple people, out of the 16 total--

JH: Like Wes Sims?

MM: Wes Sims was pretty cool. He actually tried to get a little rowdy with me one night, kind of pulled my card a little bit, but it was so subtle, it was like a really non-chalant effort. And I think he realized I wasn't the guy you really wanted to tussle with a little bit, so I wasn't going to let it fly.

JH: He's a personality. I can only imagine spending six weeks with a guy like Wes Sims.

MM: You always mind your P's and Q's around Wes Sims. You have no idea what's going to go on.

JH: Are you a family man?

MM: Yes, I have two boys and I'm a married man.

JH: Being away from them for that long and not being able to talk to them, how hard was that for you and going through that experience?

MM: That was by far the worst part of the show. The fighting was the easiest part of the show man, easiest hands down. Being away, and not even having the TV, the other forms of media, you know that sucked man, don't get me wrong, but not being able to speak to your wife or just your babies, that sucks. My older son 4, and my baby, when I left home, he was two months. So when I get home, he's four months, and its totally different. I missed Father's Day. That just sucked bro. That was the worst part was not being able to have your comfort zone of your family there. That was really hard.

JH: Having a family and small children, what do you tell your wife and get her on board with this and going away for the show?

MM: I'm extremely lucky. My wife is really, really cool and understanding. And for better or worse she understands she got an athlete and competitor. And I'm always going to be pushing the envelope and pushing myself to accomplish something I want to accomplish. And she knows that really, she just has to say OK sometimes. But then she's just like, "look as long as you're going to pay the bills, as long as you don't push through this to the point where you can't think straight, go be yourself baby." And that's how it was.

JH: Are you in a training camp now, and who are you training with?

MM: I am most definitely in a training camp now. Integrated Fighting Systems is who I train under. That's Chris Lytle, Jake O'Brien, Johnny Reese, Dan Christensen comes up quite often, we have probably about six heavyweights. We have a couple really good wrestlers that I try to be a sponge with them. We have a couple guys that are pretty good with hands, obviously Dan's really also really good in jits. I say that with a smile on my face, Dan's pretty damn good at jits. We have people that come in and do quite a bit of work. So I'm in a camp now and I'm happy with it, but I've also started going up to Chicago up to Overtime MMA, training with [Andrei] Arlovski and coach Bormet, and all those boys up there and they've been phenomenal for me.

JH: Being new to the sport, going into the house, what do you feel was your biggest strength as a fighter?

MM: Well you know that's a good question. First of all, my heart's my biggest strength. I don't quit. I'm pretty stubborn fellow when it comes to that situation. But fighting wise, I'm a puncher man. I've got night time power in both my hands from every angle. And I fight in a really awkward style. I fight southie, which is awkward in itself, and since I throw them from different angles and I throw them from anywhere, you never know where they're going to come from and I can put you to sleep. If I turn your chin a little bit, there's a good chance you're going to wake up seeing stars.

JH: I don't know if you've ever watched the show, cast members have actually defecated into each other's food to play pranks and getting on each other's case. Did anything like that happen this season?

MM: There was a little bit of tomfoolery, but there was nothing to that extent at all. It was always talk, and I'll let you figure out who, about doing an upper-deck or something like that. Do you know what an upper-decker is?

JH: No I don't.

MM: That's when you **** in the top of a toilet. So there was always talk about doing an upper-decker, but other than that there wasn't too much.

JH: A couple seasons ago, one guy put his semen in a guy's sushi and the guy ate it. Seriously, can you hate a guy that much? That's creepy man.

MM: You know when I was a rookie with the Giants, one guy was bumping his gums a little bit too much and started talking about my mother. And I was a rookie; I was in charge of getting sandwiches and everything else. So I actually shaved my pubes off and put them in his sandwich and gave it to him. And he yeah . . . so there's a point where . . . you know I just totally forgot we're in an interview?

JH: Hey, I just got that on digital audio. Uh-oh.

MM: *laughs*

JH: How do you compare training for the NFL compared to training for MMA?

MM: Like everything from A to Z is different. And that's ambiguous but it really is. The energy systems you use to train, everything that you use, like you use all your energy systems when you're fighting. Your lactic thresholds, your anaerobic, your aerobic, your speed strength, everything you use. In football, you use it, but you have a 6-1 rest to work ratio. With fighting, its a constant, constant explosiveness. So like if you don't work to develop your lactic threshold, you're going to suffer bro because you're gonna get gassed. And that's why people gas because they throw them too hard and they're body can't keep up with it, and they're lactic threshold hits and then they're done.

JH: Not just MMA fighters, but some NFL players are training at MMA camps like Matt Leinert, an NCAA Heisman Trophy winner and BCS national champion who is now the quarterback for the Arizona Cardinals. Do you think that's beneficial for NFL players to be getting that kind of training?

MM: Yes I do. I think that really allows you to sharpen your peripheral vision, your balance, your quickness. So I think for anybody that's a competitive athlete, I think that's ideal. I think for baseball players it'd be phenomenal. You know if you think about it, everything in baseball is hand/eye coordination. So everything about a fight is hand/eye coordination. So if you see something coming you got to be able to slip it, you got to be able to counter, parry, make sure you're going to hit what you're looking at, look low, kick high kind of thing. I think MMA training can almost be like the new cross fit where everybody can get something out of it beneficially. That's the only thing, is you have to be kind of careful because if you're an explosive athlete like a football player, that doesn't necessarily mean like an exorbitant amount of power into it. If you put more power into it, then you have to be careful with that kind of training, if you're weight training to be a fighter because that could be detrimental to your development.

JH: Did you like to eat Kimbo Slice's food during the show?

MM: You know I did. He's a grill master that's for sure. But what I was most impressed with about Kimbo was his ability to make a sauce. The dude can make a sauce from anything, but to be honest with you man; he really banged heads in the kitchen. In the kitchen, he banged heads with Roy [Nelson]. Panda (Roy Nelson) can cook his ass off.

JH: I imagine Roy knows his food.

MM: No doubt. Panda can cook his ass off when it comes to tacos and to be honest with you, Jon Madsen was a pretty good cook bro. He'd grill it up. He hasn't any kind of credit for what I've seen yet, but Madsen did some serious stuff. He made one really ****ty salad where he made it about 15 times more salty than it ever should have been, but it was a damn good salad what he made. He tried to duplicate the one he made the night before, and the one he made the night before the first time was awesome. It was really good.

JH: Any sponsors or any people you would like to thank or give a shout out to?

MM: Great question. I appreciate that. I'd like to thank Eden Engineer Design Nutrition. They are a performance workout nutrition and protein, phenomenal. BW3 (Buffalo Wild Wings), I'm in the process of working out some pretty good deals with them, streaming parties, and short sponsorships. And Integrated Fighting Systems and Overtime MMA. So yeah, I think there's some really good things going on man. I really appreciate you taking the time to ask that question as well.

JH: Matt, thanks so much for your time and good luck with your fighting career. I hope we see more of you really soon.

MM: I really appreciate your time man.



Remember to check out 411mania.com every Wednesday to get our reports on this season of The Ultimate Fighter as well as more upcoming exclusive interviews with the cast.