Matt Mitrione is fully confident heading into his fight with Fedor Emelianko this weekend at Bellator NYC from Madison Square Garden in New York City.
"I'm as arrogant as they come when it comes to my athletic ability and what God's gifted me with," Mitrione said on the latest episode of Booker T's Heated Conversations podcast, adding, "I believe I have a fighter's chance against anybody in the world. Nobody in the heavyweight division is going to out-quick, out-punish or out-power me. It's not going to work. I've lost a handful of times but I've never had my ass kicked. I've lost when I've made mistakes and people have been good enough to capitalize when I made them."
Mitrione (11-5) originally was supposed to face Fedor at Bellator 172 but Mitrione had to withdraw from the fight after he came down with kidney stones.
Mitrione went on to say, "I believe I would've given Fedor a rough night when he was in his prime."
Mitrione is 2-0 since signing with Bellator, winning both of his fights by stoppage. He noted that this Bellator event felt bigger and more special than any of the rest.
"This is the UFC 100 for Bellator," he said. "The budget, the marketing, the advertising, the promos, everything they've done is on a completely different scale from everything they've ever done before."
Mitrione also gave his opinion on the Floyd Mayweather vs. Conor McGregor boxing fight, which Booker T described as "a joke" later in the episode. Mitrione had a similar take.
Describing it as "the most boring fight in the history of ever", Mitrione likened McGregor stepping into the boxing ring against Mayweather to "a coy fish swimming in a shark pond. There's nothing familiar to Conor in this situation. His stones are as big as anyone I've ever met before, but the paycheck helps those stones look real big."
Mitrione noted that he has trained with full-time boxers and, "if I can't kick them, I get served up on a platter.”
Mitrione also pondered whether McGregor ever would fight in the UFC again.
"What is his motivation to go back to MMA?" he said, adding, "What's his motivation to go back and fight for $1.5-2 million? Are you for real?"
Mitrione also discussed the recent death of Tim Hague, a UFC veteran who suffered a fatal brain injury during a boxing match.
"Dude that is the risk that we take every single day, doing what we do," he said, adding "I'm getting my money now and I'm getting it against whoever I can, and I'm praying to God I come out normal sop I can pick my kids up and remember who they are in 5 years."
On training with fulltime boxersFightful.com will have live results discussion of both Bellator NYC and Bellator 180.
Click here to check out Mitrione's full interview with Booker T. The podcast episode also included an interview with Bellator Light Heavyweight Champion Phil Davis.
