Matt Mitrione has ‘lost all respect’ for Roy Nelson after ‘cheating’ at Bellator 194

Matt Mitrione and Roy Nelson were on fairly good terms prior to their fight at Bellator 194 this past Friday. However, following an incident that took place in the third-round, it’s safe to say Mitrione’s thoughts on “Big Country” have taken a quick U-turn.

Mitrione defeated Nelson by way of majority decision to advance to the semifinals of the Bellator Heavyweight World Grand Prix tournament. One judge scored the fight a 28-28 draw, while two scored it 29-28 in favor of Mitrione.

The incident that Mitrione was so furious about took place on the canvas when Nelson was on top in the crucifix position. “Meathead” said he had a specific escape planned so he could sweep Nelson and take over a dominant position.

Nelson was able to survive the transition, and Mitrione said for around 40-seconds, Nelson stuck his toe into the fence and used it for leverage to maintain the crucifix position and continue to land strikes.

Mitrione spoke to MMAFighting’s Ariel Helwani on Monday’s edition of The MMA Hour.

“For Roy to grandstand, to be like, ‘Oh, I’m full of integrity, I don’t cheat, I don’t steroids or anything else, blah blah blah,’ and then when the fight comes down to it, to say you need to win, because you lost the first two rounds, then you start to cheat just so you can win? That’s garbage, man. You’re a grandstanding dude with false integrity and I’ve got nothing for it. And if you guys think I’m being a sore winner, just go back and watch the film.

“Old boy has got issues, he’s got character and quality issues. I don’t like Roy Nelson. He’s not my dude anymore. I have no plans to be cool with him. If you’re gonna cheat to try and beat me, you’re a dirtbag and I’ve got no respect for you. So I’ve lost all juice for Roy. All of it.”

Mitrione and Nelson were castmates during The Ultimate Fighter 10, both being on Team Rashad. The pair first fought in 2012 when Nelson knocked out Mitrione in the first round at The Ultimate Fighter 16 Finale.

“What I’m saying is, for the time that he was supposedly winning that fight, for the second half of the third round, he was cheating, so, I don’t consider it at all. I think I smoked him unanimously and I think he’s a cheater. So I lost all respect for him and I’m not gonna be cool with Roy ever going forward again. That’s sideways and bogus.”

Mitrione moves onto the second round of the GP and will meet the winner of the Ryan Bader vs. Mo Lawal bout on May 12th.