On June 24th the premiere of #BellatorNYC headlined by Chael Sonnen vs Wanderlei Silva and Matt Mitrione vs Fedor Emelianenko.

If it was up to me, there’d be a lot more acceptance of mixed martial arts on planet Earth. While the sport is growing, there are still a lot of fans out there who don’t appreciate it.

Fortunately, I’ve finally found my chance to try and flip a few people recently when I hosted, “In The Cell With ML,” on The Score 1260. I had the pleasure of interviewing former Ultimate Fighter contestant, former NFL’er, and current Bellator star Matt Mitrione on for an interview.

I have followed Mitrione throughout his MMA career and his reputation certainly preceded him. He got the nickname “meathead” on the hit reality show, The Ultimate Fighter, for his lackadaisical demeanor, unique fighting style, and his aggression in the ring.

This is clearly the biggest fight of Mitrione’s career. Originally, this fight was supposed to happen earlier this year. It was delayed due to Mitrione getting a bad case of kidney stones. Although it may have turned out perfect considering this fight was moved to the #BellatorNYC card that will take place at Madison Square Garden on Jun. 24.

Mitrione will be fighting one of the biggest legends in mixed martial arts and that is Fedor Emelianenko. The Russian superstar has been fighting since the dawn of the 21st century and has spanned several different promotions.

Although this fight will be his Bellator premiere!

But back to Mitrione, as he had some great memories of Kimbo Slice. He even brought up his favorite moment that didn’t make the show. Plus talked about his time playing football, specifically with the New York Giants.

The genesis of this article was to get more people to watch and experience MMA. Hopefully, this interview will open your mind to what you’ve been missing. Mitrione is a funny character who doesn’t sugar coat things.