UFC 119 Preview: Matt Mitrione vs Joey Beltran
Before UFC 119, put on by the Ultimate Fighting Championships, kicks off on Saturday night on pay-per-view at 10 p.m EST, two preliminary card fights will be shown on the cable TV network Spike TV beginning
at 9 p.m to try and entice viewers to pay for the full card. In one of these bouts, heavweights Matt “Meathead” Mitrione and Joey “The Mexicutioner” Beltran will do battle to see who can escape the bottom rung of the heavyweight division.
Two unlikely combatants
Because the UFC tries to stack their Spike TV time slot with exciting bouts, it often means these fights feature more fan-friendly brawling than technical wizardry, and this fight isn’t much different. It’s
surprising, frankly, that either man is in the UFC.
Mitrione is a former NFL football player and entered season 10 of the reality show tournament The Ultimate Fighter as a rookie with an 0-0 record. He was eliminated in the quarterfinals via guillotine choke,
and then was served up to fellow cast member Marcus Jones on the season finale as a final chance to enter the UFC. An underdog, he was dominated for the first round but then actually caught Jones to knock him out in round two.
Next he faced another fellow cast member Kimbo Slice, in Montreal, and TKO’d Slice in the second round to improve to 2-0 and continue his unlikely run in the UFC.
Beltran also finds himself in after great odds. After he defeated UFC veteran Houston Alexander at a regional show, he was given his UFC chance against Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu phenom Rolles Gracie. Most fans
saw it as Gracie being given an easy opponent to beat to build up his name; Beltran saw it different and TKO’d Gracie after the Brazilian tired badly.
Next up he also fought on the UFC 113 card, and this time was given an easier task in Tim Hague. Hague isn’t really a UFC calibre fighter, but was put on the card because it was taking place in his home country
of Canada, but Beltran eked out a close decision to improve to 12-3.
Neither fighter has shown they’re ready to take on any top fighters in the division, and none of the four fighters they’ve defeated between them in the UFC have actually remained with the promotion.
Style, betting odds and prediction
Expect this one to be an uninspiring battle. Beltran hasn’t shown he has wonderful cardio, tiring out badly in his fight against Hague and engaging in what looked like sloppy boxing match rather than an MMA
fight in world’s best promotion.
Mitrione has no great technique either, but in his last fight against Slice he showed some interesting development for a fighter with just two fights. He was able to display a variety of submission attempts,
including a triangle choke, a keylock submission, a kimura and most impressively an anaconda choke. He finished none of them but used them effectively to improve position on Slice, and also used leg kicks in an impressive way.
Mitrione is a 2/3 favourite for this fight, whereas Beltran comes in as a 4/3 underdog on most lines. Though Beltran has the better experience, look for Mitrione to get stronger as the fight goes on and either
finish Beltran or take a decision.
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