Mitrione was on the MMA hour recently and teased about who he was fighting next. He said something to the effect of the fighter/fight being exciting and one he had been interested in...or the fighter had been one he was following. Something like that. The gist of it, is that the implication is that it isn't a nobody or some newcomer, it's a bit of a name. He denied Shane Carwin, Dave Herman, Stipe Miocic and several others.

The mystery has personally driven me a little mad...I couldn't fathom who he might get next.

So below I'm going through the entire heavyweight roster to see who this guys next fight might be.

Going down the list alphabetically

1. Pat Barry - Fighting Lavar Johnson at UFC on Fox 3 - NO
2. Rob Broughton - Coming off of two losses, is known for being a bit of a brawler - Perhaps him?
3. Travis Browne - Fighting Griggs at UFC 145 - NO
4. Shane Carwin - Denied by Mitrione himself - NO
5. Mirko Cro Cop - Is retired and lingering on the roser - NO
6. Phil De Fries - Just got smashed in 43 seconds - Perhaps?
7. Shane Del Rosario - Fighting Gonzaga at 146 - NO
8. Junior Dos Santos - Fighting Reem 146 - NO
9. Gabriel Gonzaga - Fighting Rosario 146 - NO
10. Chad Griggs - Fighting Brown 145 - NO
11. Dave Herman - Free, but denied by Mitrione - NO
12. Heath Herring - He's been retired - NO
13. Mark Hunt - KOing Struve at 146 - NO
14. Lavar Johnson - Fighting Barry at Fox 3 - NO
15. Shawn Jordan - Free, not a name at all though - Perhaps?
16. Cheick Kongo - Just got KO'd, fought Mitrione in his last fight - NO
17. Brock Lesnar - Retired too - NO
18. Stipe Miocic - Besides the 'losers vs losers' thing, makes sense, but Mitrione denied it - NO
19. Frank Mir - Fighting Cain at 146 - NO
20. Christian Morecraft - Already fought - NO
21. Roy Nelson - Fighting Easter Island at 146 - NO
22. Minotauro Nogueira - How well is he recovered? - Perhaps?
23. Ednaldo Oliveira - coming off of first loss like Mitrione - Perhaps?
24. Alistair Overeem - Fighting JDS 146 - NO
25. Ben Rothwell - Fighting Schaub 145 - NO
26. Mike Russow - Fighting Werdum at 147 - NO
27. Brendan Schaub - Fighting Rothwell 145 - NO
28. Antonio Silva - Fighting Big Country 146 - NO
29. Stefan Struve - Fighting Hunt 146 - NO
30. Oli Thompson - Just lost in March - Perhaps?
31. Cain Velasquez - Facing Mir 146 - NO
32. Fabricio Werdum - Facing Russow 147 - NO

Of the 32 OTHER heavyweights on the UFC's roster...18 are currently booked. 3 (Cro Cop, Lesnar, and Herring) are retired. 11 are not booked. Of the 11 NOT booked, Kongo and Morecraft have fought Mitrione before. So that narrows it down to 9 potential fighters.

1. Rob Broughton
2. Shane Carwin
3. Phil De Fries
4. Dave Herman
5. Shawn Jordan
6. Stipe Miocic
7. Minotauro Nogueira
8. Edinaldo Oliveira
9. Oli Thompson

Of these 9, Carwin, Herman, and Miocic were among those he denied on the MMA hour as his next opponents. I believe Nog is still going to be out for a bit longer with his arm injury.

So unless Mitrione was lying when he denied some of these names, Broughton, De Fries, Jordan, Oliveira and Thompson are who they have available. Unless of course there is someone NOT in the UFC who might be making their debut against Mitrione...like Sergei Kharitonov or Fedor Emelianenko.

Thoughts?