Matt Mitrione long-standing friendship with fellow MMA heavyweight Roy Nelson is over after the pair’s Bellator 194 fight, where Mitrione defeated Roy Nelson by majority decision. That loss eliminated Nelson from the Bellator World Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament.
Bellator 194 marked a rematch between them as the two men had previously faced each other in the finale of The Ultimate Fighter 16 (TUF), with Nelson knocking Mitrione out in the first round.
Both fighters were on fairly good terms prior to their fight, however, following an incident that took place in the third-round, it’s safe to say Mitrione’s thoughts on Nelson have taken a quick U-turn.
Matt Mitrione won the first two rounds on all the judges’ cards, while Nelson won the third. Mitrione lashed out at Nelson for using illegal tactics to keep top control in the third round in their fight at Bellator 194. After this incident, Matt Mitrione called Nelson “dirtbag” and said he has ‘lost all respect’ for him after ‘cheating.’
During a recent interview with MMAJunkie, Nelson fires back at his rival:
“Matt’s a guy that’s always the pot calling the kettle black,” Nelson told MMAjunkie. “I think he’s still upset because he’s cheating on his wife and stuff. That’s all I heard that whole week – was him cheating on his wife.
So I think he has a lot of guilt, and he’s got to take his rage out somewhere. But there’s no cheating on my end. I think he’s just upset because in his heart he didn’t really feel like he won. He wasn’t the best fighter that night.”
“I want Round 4, so we can go ahead and do that again,” Nelson said. “The worst-case scenario is we should’ve went to a fourth round. That was worst case scenario. (Referee) Dan (Miragliotta) was going to call the fight like three times. I got it in my head because I started having an argument with Dan about how Matt’s not moving and he couldn’t get out. He took a lot of unanswered shots.”
Nelson is set to take on next at heavyweight legend, Mirko Cro Cop at Bellator 200, but he wants to be back in Bellator World Heavyweight Grand Prix tournament, and he sees a trilogy fight with Mitrione as his opportunity.
Matt Mitrione’s victory advances him in the tournament, in which he’ll next face either Ryan Bader or Muhammed “King Mo” Lawal.
