Matt Mitrione Talks Win Over Joey Beltran, Public Firing Of His Manager

UFC heavyweight fighter Matt "Meathead" Mitrione made it three in a row last night in Indianapolis, Indiana at UFC 119. Mitrione took on 12-4 Joey "Mexicutioner" Beltran on the Spike TV-aired portion of the UFC 119 preliminary card. Mitrione outclassed his more experienced opponent over three rounds to earn a unanimous decision victory and improve both his professional and UFC record to 3-0. Mitrione spoke with MMAFighting.com's Ariel Helwani after the fight to discuss the win, where he'd like to go next and his in-cage firing of manager Malki Kawa.

"You know, I'll be honest I feel really damn good," Mitrione said post-fight. "That was exactly how I thought it was gonna play out, to a certain extent. If we stayed on our feet, I knew we were gonna trade 'em up. I really thought I was gonna knock him out, his chin is a whole lot better than I gave him credit for. He barely tried to wrestle. He didn't take shots, he didn't do what I thought he was gonna do. Good for him, he had a good game plan; kept me from kicking him."

"Meathead" apparently publicly fired his manager, Malki Kawa, during his post-fight interview with Joe Rogan in the Octagon. Mitrione confirmed his manager's ousting and explained his reasoning behind making the decision to Helwani.

"His name is Malki Kawa from First Round management. He did the worst job ever with sponsorships," he said. "For a televised fight he got me five thousand dollars. Five thousand dollars for a televised fight. That is highly unacceptable. So yeah, Malki, you're fired."

Mitrione also pointed to comments that Kawa made concerning his wife's interference in business deals as reason the manager was let go.

When asked who he would like to take on next, Mitrione jokingly addressed a beef with friend and fellow Indianan Sean McCorkle before saying that he only wants a step up in competition.

"Honestly man, I don't know who I want to fight. I'm 3-0, I'm really happy about that," Mitrione said. "And Joey is a tough guy; he had, I think, fifteen fights and this was his sixteenth. So, I think I'm developing. Hopefully, another person that's tougher than Joey and just let me see where I am. I'm not trying to be world champ yet but I wanna get that piece of gold eventually. Whatever it is, I'm gonna do it."

[source]