TORONTO — Combat sports fans always enjoy a good ol’ fashioned brawl, and this Saturday night at UFC 165 Brendan Schaub and Matt Mitrione look forward to giving the fans in Toronto what they want.
The two heavyweights lock horns on the main card at Air Canada Centre, and with a combined 12 knockout victories of the pair’s 15 combined wins, it’s not likely that their fight will go the distance.
Watch the UFC 165 preliminary card Saturday with four fights on sportsnet.ca starting at 6:00 p.m. ET / 3:00 p.m. PT then four additional bouts on Sportsnet 360 at 8:00 p.m. ET / 5:00 p.m. PT – Broadcast Schedule
While the two former football players are longtime friends and were housemates on TUF 10, Mitrione and Schaub have engaged in a verbal sparring match in the buildup to this fight, with Mitrione explicitly saying that his opponent’s chin “sucks” due to his brutal KO losses to Ben Rothwell, Antonio Rodrigo Nogueira and Roy Nelson.
But, in saying that, Mitrione knows that when two big boys are swinging leather in the Octagon, anything can happen, and the Blackzilian is well aware of the fact that, while many are picking him to knock Schaub out, it could be him who is the one getting knocked out.
“I think in the heavyweight division any fight can end with one punch,” Mitrione told sportsnet.ca. “Look at me vs. Roy Nelson at the TUF 16 Finale. One punch in the right spot and it was over. But I don’t worry about my chin at all.”
For his part, Schaub agreed with his opponent that anything can happen with four-once gloves, although it might just be the way he defends himself when people question his ability to take a punch.
“It’s the heavyweights,” Schaub said. “I touch his chin and he’s going to sleep. 265 pounds, someone touches your chin, the fight’s over.”
But while Schaub agreed with Mitrione on that point, he feels as though his enemy’s assertions that his chin “sucks” is false.
“Do you say Cain Velasquez, Frank Mir, and Alistair Overeem have weak chins?” Schaub, who trained with Lyoto Machida for this camp, said. “It’s the heavyweights, things happen. He’s been knocked out. That’s just an excuse. I must be doing pretty well if that’s all he can come up with (for trash talk).”
And while Mitrione questioned his opponent’s ability to take a punch, he did credit him for his skills as a fighter.
“Brendan’s a good fighter against the cage. He pummels well. He has decent takedowns too but I feel I match up very well with him and I think he’s underestimating my athleticism.”
As for Schaub’s thoughts on Mitrione, he wasn’t as complimentary.
“Anything Matt does I do better. If he wants to stay standing that’s cool, if we go to the ground that’s fine. There’s no game plan. I’ve been blessed with the skills to go wherever the fight goes and Matt can’t say that.”
Even though it has mainly been Mitrione talking trash, at least publicly, Schaub still thinks they can remain friends after the fight — but, at the same time, he doesn’t care if they lose touch.
“I’ve known Matt a long time, but we’ll see,” Schaub said. “Listen, I got a lot of friends. I live in L.A. now, I have a lot of fake friends too. If Matt’s not my friend it’s no sweat off my back. We have a big history, we come from similar backgrounds. It’s just business. He wants to be friends, great, if not, cool.”
As for Mitrione? He said basically the same thing.
“I had no issues with Brendan, me and him talked on a regular basis up until we had to fight each other,” Mitrione said. “There was never any animosity there before.”
But there is now and at the official weigh-ins on Friday afternoon at Maple Leaf Square outside the ACC, Mitrione and Schaub engaged in perhaps the most intense staredown of any pair on the entire card. And even after they stopped staring at each other, both men were yapping at one another until they were separated and sent off stage.
Trash talk is one thing, though, and while talking up the fight hasn’t been an issue, now both men have to go into the Octagon and back up what they’ve been saying.
Once two close friends, now bitter enemies, Mitrione and Schaub will duke it out at UFC 165 and prove who the better fighter is. Or, if what they both say about chins is true, at least prove who can land the first heavy blow.
Either way, expect someone to be waking up to a doctor’s flashlight, and if that happens, the fans will feel like they got their money’s worth. And for two showmen like Schaub and Mitrione, that’s perhaps the thing that matters the most.
