Bellator 215: Mitrione vs. Kharitonov

Bellator 215 takes place on February 15, 2019 at the Mohegan Sun arena in Uncasville, Connecticut.  The main event will be Matt Mitrione (13-6 MMA, 4-1 Bellator) facing against Sergei Kharitonov (28-6 MMA, 2-1 Bellator) in a matchup of heavyweight contenders.   Matt is coming off of a tough unanimous decision loss to Ryan Bader in the semifinals of Bellator’s Heavyweight Grand Prix – which Bader won on January 26, 2019 by knocking out Fedor Emelianenko in the finals.  Sergei Kharitonov is coming off of a KO victory over UFC veteran Roy Nelson, which occurred at Bellator 207 on October 12, 2018.

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The Fight Card is as follows:

Main Card

Heavyweight Matt Mitrione vs. Sergei Kharitonov

Welterweight Logan Storley vs. Ion Pascu

Bantamweight Eduardo Dantas vs. Toby Misech

Bantamweight Michael Kimbel vs. Jonathan Douma

Lightweight Brandon Girtz vs. Pedro Carvalho

Welterweight Austin Vanderford vs. Cody Jones

Preliminary Card

Middleweight Pat McCrohan vs. Ilya Kotau

Featherweight Pete Rogers vs. Jason Rine

1. Atomweight Marisa Belenchia vs. Lindsey VanZandt

Lightweight Marcus Surin vs. Pedro Gonzalez

1. Featherweight Amber Leibrock vs. Amanda Bell

Welterweight Billy Goff vs. Ryan Hardy

Matt Mitrione Biography

Matt was born on July 15. 1978 and is a former professional football player- playing for the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings, before fighting professional Mixed Martial Arts.  He was born in Illinois, where he competed in many sports in high school- including football, swimming, diving, and track and field. As a football player, he received USA Today’s All-American Honorable Mention and All State honors.

After high school graduation, he attended Purdue University on a football scholarship, playing defensive tackle.  During his senior year, he broke his foot and went undrafted in the 2002 NFL draft. However, he was offered a contract by the New York Giants, who he played for three seasons (although he only appeared in 9 games), and finished his NFL career playing for the Minnesota Vikings in 2005.  During his football career, he was plagued by foot injuries- which required seven surgeries.

When his NFL career was over, Mitrione decided to focus on training mixed martial arts, and began training with UFC fighters Chris Lytle and Jake O’Brien in Indianapolis, Indiana.

Mixed Martial Arts Career

UFC

Matt Mitrione appeared on the tenth season of The Ultimate Fighter, where he was chosen by Rashad Evans to be on his team.  Mitrione won his first fight, and lost in the quarterfinals by guillotine to James McSweeney. However, he was given an opportunity to fight on the Ultimate Fighter finale, where he defeated Marcus Jones by KO in the second round.  He would go on to fight 14 fights in the UFC, compiling a record of 9 wins and 5 losses.

Bellator MMA

After losing to Travis Browne on January 17, 2016 at UFC Fight Night 81 by TKO in the third round, Mitrione’s decided to try the free market, as this was the last fight on his UFC contract.

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On March 14, 2016, Mitrione announced he had signed on with Bellator MMA.  He made his promotional debut on June 14, 2016, when he knocked out Carl Seumanutafa in the first round.   He has now fought five times for the organization, earning a 4 win and 1 loss record. Mitrione’s Bellator MMA highlights include knocking out legend Fedor Emelianenko on June 24, 2017 in the first round.

Mixed Martial Arts Record

Loss Ryan Bader Decision (unanimous) 12-Oct-18

Win Roy Nelson Decision (majority) 16-Feb-18

Win Fedor Emelianenko KO (punches) 24-Jun-17

Win Oli Thompson TKO (punches) 16-Jul-16

Win Carl Seumanutafa KO (punch) 24-Jun-16

Loss Travis Browne TKO (punches) 17-Jan-16

Loss Ben Rothwell Submission (choke) 6-Jun-15

Win Gabriel Gonzaga TKO (punches) 13-Dec-14

Win Derrick Lewis KO (punches) 5-Sep-14

Win Shawn Jordan KO (punches) 1-Mar-14

Loss Brendan Schaub Submission (choke) 21-Sep-13

Win Philip De Fries KO (punches) 6-Apr-13

Loss Roy Nelson TKO (punches) 15-Dec-12

Loss Cheick Kongo Decision (unanimous) 29-Oct-11

Win Christian Morecraft KO (punches) 26-Jun-11

Win Tim Hague TKO (punches) 22-Jan-11

Win Joey Beltran Decision (unanimous) 25-Sep-10

Win Kimbo Slice TKO (punches) 8-May-10

Win Marcus Jones KO (punch) 5-Dec-09

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