Former Purdue lineman Matt Mitrione does exclusive Q&A with The Times

Mixed martial arts is one of the fastest growing sports in the world, if not the fastest.

Dana White, president of the Ultimate Fighting Championship, likes to point to one set of circumstances in particular that helped MMA -- and especially the UFC -- blow up to a multi-billion dollar business: "The Ultimate Fighter" reality show and the first season's finale between Forrest Griffin and Munster native Stephan Bonnar.

Nine seasons later, "The Ultimate Fighter" is still going strong. On Wednesday, the 10th season kicked off with a two-hour debut featuring heavyweight fighters.

The big news this season is former streetfighting and Internet video sensation Kimbo Slice being in the TUF house trying to win his way into the UFC.

But there are also four former NFL players out of the 16 fighters this season, including former Purdue lineman Matt Mitrione.

Mitrione will do an exclusive post-episode question-and-answer session with The Times, breaking down every show. He'll provide insights into life inside the house, working with Season 10 coaches Rashad Evans and Quinton "Rampage" Jackson, his relationships with the other fighters and plenty more.

What were your impressions as you stood there with the other fighters being welcomed by Dana White?

I was just listening to everyone and looking at the studio and facility. I didn't really care about the rest of the people that much, to be honest. I didn't know any of the fighters other than Brendan Schaub (and I didn't know him as a fighter), so they were all just faces to me. I say I didn't really care about them because in a situation of competition, it's not about the other guy -- it's about you and what you do to win. The other guy is going to do three things: Punch you, kick you or fold you up like a pretzel. It's up to you yo avoid those situations and to win.

What was your reaction when Dana brought Kimbo in?

Complete indifference. He's just another face.

You said the evaluation process for the coaches was tougher than an NFL training camp. What's that all about?

The evaluation was really difficult. That was pretty much two and a half hours of continuous sparring, wrestling and jiu-jitsu. During (an NFL) camp, there are always rest periods and you aren't constantly punching each other in the face.

As you stood there waiting to get placed on a team, did you have any feeling on which coach you'd prefer to work with?

I asked Rashad to pick me (because I needed) help with wrestling. They were both cool, but I figured Rashad would be able to coach me better.

What were your thoughts when you got paired with Rashad? What about your thoughts on the makeup of your team?

I thought our team was really strong. I didn't know anything about (the other guys), but I thought they looked athletic and aggressive. They all seemed to have an attitude about them, and I liked that.

Your overall impressions of the first episode? Is it cool to see yourself on there? How do you think they did with the editing of it?

I thought the initial episode was kind of humdrum. I am anticipating an interesting season, so I think I might have been expecting a little more, but not much happened in that initial time period. All the "fit hits the shan" here soon!

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