Matt Mitrione accepts fully responsibility for his Bellator 225 defeat.
Last night (Aug. 24), Mitrione went one-on-one with Sergei Kharitonov in the main event of Bellator 225. The two had met before, but it ended quickly when Mitrione landed an accidental kick to the groin. While their first meeting ended in a No Contest, Kharitonov stopped Mitrione via TKO in the rematch.
Mitrione Discusses Bellator 225 Loss & Mouthpiece Issues
Throughout his rematch with Kharitonov, Mitrione had problems with his mouthpiece. It kept falling out of his mouth so many times that referee Dan Miragliotta gave Mitrione a final warning and threatened to deduct a point. Kharitonov would knock his mouthpiece out with a punch and dropped Mitirone for the TKO finish.
Mitrione spoke on the loss to Kharitonov and revealed what went wrong with his mouthpiece.
“Me losing was not because of my mouthpiece, it was because of my response to the situation. I always use the same one & lost it Thursday before fight week. Had an impression done at a West Lafayette dentist. It was shipped to hotel. First time I ever wore it was tonight.”
With the loss to Kharitonov, Mitrione has now gone 0-2, 1 NC in his last three outings. He hasn’t emerged victorious since his majority decision win over Roy Nelson back in Feb. 2018. Before an Oct. 2018 loss to Ryan Bader, Mitrione was riding a four-fight winning streak.
