UFC fighter after gruesome injury: ‘My eye looks like a practical joke’
But it’s getting better
When Travis Browne stopped Matt Mitrione in the third round of their heavyweight bout at the TD Garden Sunday night, the crowd reacted in the expected manner: loud cheers with vigorous applause. But when the two men stood up, those cheers turned to loud gasps and the applause subsided as shock reverberated around the building.
Clearly visible on the Jumbotron, and to viewers on Fox Sports 1, Mitrione had a swollen eye about the size of an avocado. A picture of the 37 year old UFC veteran’s gruesome injury immediately began rocketing around the internet and by the time he was out of Brigham and Women’s Hospital four hours later, he was the sports meme of the moment.
[fragment number=0]
Mitrione, who played for the Giants and Vikings in the NFL before transitioning to mixed martial arts, started on The Ultimate Fighter before being added to the UFC’s roster, where he holds a 9-5 record. The kickboxer was landing some solid blows in the first round before being inadvertently poked in the eye by Browne as he was coming inside to build upon a big shot. After the referee stopped the fight to let a doctor check him out, Mitrione was poked again in the second round in a similar incident. After another timeout to get checked, the bout was allowed to continue, and Browne badly damaged Mitrione in the third round, causing the eye injury with a straight right hand that got home and ultimately led to his win.
“The pokes definitely had something to do with (the loss),’’ Mitrione said as he was driving from Boston back home to Indiana. “I’m fighting with one eye closed because I’m seeing double and I have to see one person. I slipped the punch from the guy on the right but the guy on the left was Travis, who threw that punch.’’
That punch caused some pretty significant injuries. Mitrione, who said he didn’t feel any pain while in the octagon, has an orbital floor fracture, which may or may not require surgery but in a worst case scenario could call for a steel plate. The swelling has almost completely subsided, but the eye is badly discolored. “The coloring is dark,’’ Mitrione said, “My eye looks like a practical joke, like I colored it that way.’’ Mitrione also suffered a separated shoulder in the bout.
[fragment number=1]
Currently the 14th ranked heavyweight in the world, Mitrione takes issue with the way the fight was managed, specifically about how he was allowed to continue after saying “I’m seeing double’’ after the second eye poke. “I’m a modern day gladiator, I’m not going to pull myself out of a competition,’’ Mitrione said. “It’s not my job to protect myself in that situation, I’m there to fight and earn my money.’’
“I’m lying. If I see you put up a hand and I see four fingers, I know you have two fingers up, anyone knows that. The onus falls on the ref, the commissioner, and the officials. If you see me out there and I’m squinting or I’m fighting with one eye closed you need to do something.’’
After that second poke (both were in the same eye), Mitrione momentarily grabbed at his eye but had to keep fighting because the referee did not immediately step in. He had Browne backing up at that point from two massive left hand shots. “Travis’s corner said ‘finish him, get him,’ because they can see that I’m hurt, so I had to keep swinging,’’ Mitrione said.
Mitrione agreed that both of the eye pokes from Browne, the sixth ranked heavyweight in the world, were accidental, and Browne apologized after each of them when the fight resumed. Still, he believes that the fight would’ve been very different had they not happened. “I was in control of the fight, and I feel like this changed the tempo and momentum completely,’’ Mitrione said. “I didn’t think he was landing anything significantly as far as punches, he was landing kicks, but I didn’t feel anything before the pokes.’’
Although his current contract with the UFC is up, Mitrione said he’d be open to rematch with Browne if he ended up resigning with the promotion, but as of right now, he’s looking forward to a little bit of time off to recover and enjoy some of his newfound fame as he weighs his options. According to Mitrione, that fame comes as no surprise given how he looked when he stood up.
“When I saw what (my eye) looked like I thought this would be a meme all over the world,’’ Mitrione said. “The world was going to know my face, but not for the right reasons, not because I look like Chris Pratt, but because I looked like Quasimodo.’’
Mitrione hasn’t only “gained more fame from this loss than any win besides the Kimbo Slice fight (at UFC 113 in 2010),’’ he’s also had people from all over the world tweet him pictures of their own black eyes as a show of solidarity.
“I’ve got a career in the public eye right now. Sooner or later no one is going to care who I am or who I ever was, other than my children,’’ Mitrione said. “If someone wants to send me a picture of their black eye, that they were inspired or moved and care enough to send it to me, awesome. You wouldn’t believe the amount of positive feedback I got from this.’’
Mitrione said that he was planning on dedicating the fight, had he won, to his high school football coach’s wife, Mrs. Leonard, who is currently battling breast cancer. “I didn’t give up, I hope that inspired her,’’ he said.
For the fighter, who compared his experience to getting posterized in the NBA, he’s not thrilled about potentially being known as “the guy with the swollen eye,’’ and pointed out how, among fighting circles, he has a different reputation.
“I was the bad guy on The Ultimate Fighter, I’m also considered wild and crazy and intelligent at a different level,’’ he said. “I really don’t want to be the guy with a ballsack on his eye but I’m not sure if I’ve got a choice in the matter.’’
Below are highlights from the fight.
[fragment number=2]
Significant Boston Sports Injuries
[bdc-gallery id=”537880″]
To comment, please create a screen name in your profile
To comment, please verify your email address
Conversation
This discussion has ended. Please join elsewhere on Boston.com