TUF Q&A | Matt Mitrione, Episode 2

Purdue graduate and former NFL player Matt Mitrione, who trains at Integrated Fighting Academy in Indianapolis with UFC stars Chris Lytle and Jake O'Brien, is doing an exclusive Q&A series with The Times during Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter."

Mitrione was one of 16 heavyweight contestants on the UFC's reality show, which airs Wednesday nights at 9 p.m. Central on Spike TV.

In Episode 2 of the show, Mitrione's team, coached by former UFC light heavyweight champ Rashad Evans, improved to 2-0. And at the end, a highly anticipated bout between Kimbo Slice and Roy Nelson was announced for next week's episode.

Be sure to check in with The Times' MMA site each week to hear Mitrione's exclusive inside scoops about each episode and life in the TUF house.

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What was it like in the TUF house in the early going?

It was difficult to get acclimated. Since there were no forms of media in the house, we just made fun of all the camera guys, sound guys or their little cronies. After a few days, we got in trouble by the head lady. I never really got used to the people around, but it got a little less irritating as time went by. Toward the end of the show, they allowed the cronies/understudies to film and they were just all over the place. They'd get in the middle of your conversations and block the people you were trying to speak with, and not to sound like a prima donna, but that got rather annoying.

Were you able to notice any personalities that just instantly clashed in your first week or so in the house? And was there anyone that you didn't get along with at the start?

I think that Abe (Wagner) rubbed people the wrong way initially. But after he fought, we just got used to his personality. Other than that, I think we all got along rather well.

 I got along with everyone initially. Everyone was playing it rather close to the vest. But after the first few fights, one of the winners became brand new and I wasn't having much of that. I was cool with Brendan (Schaub) and Darill (Schoonover) from the jump. They are really good people, and it showed in their actions.

What was it like getting used to no access to the outside world? Did that mess with your head at all?

The loss of the media wasn't too bad until the end of Week 2. Then it just started to suck. We had no distractions, so we actually made a deck of playing cards out of paper plates. It was a janky deck of cards, but they worked.

Give us some behind-the-scenes details about life in the house.

The behind-the-scenes stuff is pretty interesting. Every day, we had this sheet of paper called the "Wish List." You could put whatever you wanted on that list. If you wanted baby bison steaks that were fed corn and brussel sprouts, you just put it on the list and once they found it, it was yours. People asked for everything you can imagine. You could ask for objects as well. We asked for Frisbees, pool golf sets. People even asked for strippers, dime bags and Zig Zags (they didn't get these). The funny thing is that if you asked for any kind of alcohol, you would get it in 2 1/2 minutes flat. It was almost a running joke. They had lights that never shut off. Not to sound too spoiled, but we had to do our own laundry, cooking and cleaning. That gets old really fast. Practicing two times a day means at least 1 1/2 hours of laundry a day. If you had any nighttime conversations with your roommates, the camera crew would come right in and turn on the lights.

What about the house itself? What is it like?

The house itself is really nice. Probably like 5,000 square feet with five bedrooms. Nice pool and basketball court. Quiet at times, and it's amazing just how small that house gets after about 10 days. Since you cant go anywhere off premises, you've got to figure out a place that you can go to (both mentally and physically) that allows you that peace of mind that we all needed. For some, that was the hot tub and for another it was a walk-in closet!

After Episode 2's fight, your team is now 2-0. How important was it for Team Rashad for James McSweeney to beat Wes Shivers, and what was the difference for him?

Well, in that situation, winning every fight is pretty important. It's a complete morale booster or killer. So winning to us was everything, as we knew we had the majority of the talent in the house.

 McSweeney utilized his talents. He is a talented kicker and he made them work to his advantage.

The big one was announced at the end of Episode 2: Kimbo Slice vs. Roy "Big Country" Nelson. What were you guys thinking after that was announced?

We all felt that Roy was going to work Kimbo over. We all wanted to fight Kimbo (I think) so there was a bit of jealousy there, too, but it was going to be more of the same as far as we were concerned. There was a bit of jealousy and a lot of confidence in Roy's ability. We all believed in Roy and we were all pretty excited to watch the fight.