Matt Mitrione defeated Roy Nelson by majority decision in a razor-thin fight that went the distance on Friday night at Bellator 194. Mitrione’s win advances him in the World Heavyweight Grand Prix, in which he’ll next face either Ryan Bader or Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
Matt Mitrione and Roy Nelson were on fairly good terms ever since being castmates on The Ultimate Fighter 10 nine years ago. However, following an incident that took place in the third-round, those good feelings toward Nelson have come to an end.
The thing is that Nelson had takedowns in all three rounds, and because he kept a dominant position on Matt Mitrione in the second half of the final round, the fans thought he ought to be the winner. Rather, One judge scored the fight a 28-28 draw, while two scored it 29-28 in favor of Mitrione.
Matt was speaking to The MMA Hour, where Mitrione called out Nelson for using the fence and ‘cheating’ in the third round, which was a round that Roy Nelson clearly won:
“For Roy to grandstand, to be like, ‘Oh, I’m full of integrity, I don’t cheat, I don’t steroids or anything else, blah blah blah,’ and then when the fight comes down to it, to say you need to win, because you lost the first two rounds, then you start to cheat just so you can win? That’s garbage, man. You’re a grandstanding dude with false integrity and I’ve got nothing for it. And if you guys think I’m being a sore winner, just go back and watch the film.
“Old boy has got issues, he’s got character and quality issues. I don’t like Roy Nelson. He’s not my dude anymore. I have no plans to be cool with him. If you’re gonna cheat to try and beat me, you’re a dirtbag and I’ve got no respect for you. So I’ve lost all juice for Roy. All of it.”
Both fought back in 2012 when Roy Nelson knocked out Mitrione in the first round at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale.
“What I’m saying is, for the time that he was supposedly winning that fight, for the second half of the third round, he was cheating, so, I don’t consider it at all. I think I smoked him unanimously and I think he’s a cheater. So I lost all respect for him and I’m not gonna be cool with Roy ever going forward again. That’s sideways and bogus.”
What did you make of Matt Mitrione vs Roy Nelson 2? Did you think the cheating was as bad as Mitrione made it out to be?
