UFC 137 Mitrione Vs. Kongo Odds Prediction

The UFC recently confirmed that Matt Mitrine vs. Cheick Kongo will be one of the main fights in Las Vegas on Oct. 29 and the odds for these two are expected to be pretty close.

Both are powerful strikers with a ton of size and skills in the stand-up department, although Kongo seems to be much more polished.

Kongo and Mitrione are both coming off of big wins but they took much different paths to get them. Kongo was getting beaten down by Pat Barry but found a way to dig deep and knock him out even on wobbly legs.

Mitrione meanwhile dominated Christian Morecraft, a tall and lumbering heavyweight who is a middle-of-the-pack fighter at best in these days.

The former football player "Meathead" seems to be very confident in his abilities these days, but Kongo is the first true test for him. Despite Kongo's struggles at times he is still one of the most physically imposing fighters in the UFC with his chiseled physique and speed.

Mitrione will not be quite as confident going into this one, at least not on the inside, because he knows it will likely be a tough fight against the veteran Kongo. His ground game is also untested at this point in time and many are still scratching their heads over Mitrione's loss on TUF to James McSweeney via standing guillotine, even though he seemed to be hurt with a neck injury at that point in time.

But Kongo is not a submission threat and the odds that he will submit Mitrione, who is probably a bit stronger than him overall as well, are not good. The UFC 137 predictions mostly have this one as a stand-up war.

In that case, some holes have been shown in the Frenchman's game that "Meathead" can exploit. Frank Mir destroyed him with a huge hook and Barry was able to fell him with a big right hand as well; two attacks that he should have been aware of before the fight. The holes in the Frenchman's stand up are proving to be large and he was lucky to win the Barry fight.

The leg kicks and huge straight rights of the former New York Giants defensive lineman Mitrione are among the best in the division right now and he should be ready to go and in better shape by the time he fights in October.

This fight has a lot of variables as all heavyweight scraps do, but at this point in time, it's hard not to make a prediction in favor of Mitrione at UFC 137 over Kongo. The pick here is that he will win by TKO in the 2nd round on a counter-strike.