Scrapp! FIGHT MAGAZINE
May - 2016
35
came over the same man, Javy
Ayala, who “Badwater” beat
in his lone Bellator fight to
date.
That’s not an opponent anyone
expected. Given the shallow
waters of their heavyweight
division, at least a semi-nota-
ble name would have made
sense. Sure, Kimbo Slice is
already booked with James
Thompson, but Mitrione is
coming off a controversial loss
to Travis Browne in the UFC.
Dropping him so far down
the ranks is puzzling, espe-
cially when a name like Cheick
Kongo is available. Even Justin
Wren would bring about some
buzz, being the feelgood story
of Bellator’s year and all.
Instead, we have Seumanuta-
fa in a fight literally no one
was asking for, except maybe
Seumanutafa himself. It’s a
classic lose-lose situation for
Meathead. Win, and you were
very much expected to. Lose,
and suddenly everyone ques-
tions the big payday, and con-
siders you overvalued. Over-
rated. There’ll be no Benson
Henderson upside to the situ-
ation, becuase Seumanutafa
isn’t a reigning champion, or
even close to a title shot in the
division. What he is, however,
is a dangerous fighter capable
of pulling off an upset.
It’s a head scratcher, for sure.
It’s bad enough that Vitaly
Minakov is now two years re-
moved from having defended
his Bellator MMA title, and is
off fighting in Russia. It’s bad
enough that you’ve got King
Mo moving up in weight and
stalking heavyweights, defeat-
ing Kongo in an ugly bout that
essentially told fans just how
weak the heavyweight ranks
are over at Bellator.
Now, you’ve got a guy who
could hang in the top fifteen in
the UFC, the only heavyweight
division that really matters at
this point – and you’re wast-
ing him.
Wasting him, at least as far as
fighting is concerned. Mitrione
looked surprisingly good, and
more importantly, sounded
surprisingly good, working the
mic for Bellator Kickboxing.
Whatever Bellator does in the
cage with him, and however
he performs, at least he seems
to have landed himself some
security for his post-fighting
career. Good for him.
As far as fighting goes, how-
ever, well that’s another story.
There’s no faulting him for
it, but Bellator matchmakers
have got to be a little more
creative. Names like Joey Bel-
tran (recently announced as
moving back to heavyweight)
or newly signed Sergei Khari-
tonov would have made much
more sense. Even Vinicius
Spartan would have been a
decent bout, with Spartan
coming off a loss.
Bellator no doubt feels the
need to build Mitrione back
up. Arguably, however, he’s al-
ready ahead of most of their
heavyweight division. They’d
be better off using him against
the top of the division, either
allowing him to shine, or
building up the best of their
ranks.
