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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief
Matt Mitrione was "suspended" by the UFC in line with their code of conduct earlier this month after unleashing a string of hateful rhetoric towards transgender fighter Fallon Fox. However, his "suspension" has already been lifted, as the UFC booked him to take on fellow Ultimate Fighter 10 contestant Brendan Schaub on the UFC on Fox 8 card.
Mitrione fought earlier this month at UFC on Fuel 9 in Sweden, knocking out Phil De Fries in 19 seconds, but he got himself in trouble with his unprovoked comments against Fox. The UFC responded swiftly, and issued a public statement saying he'd been suspended. UFC President Dana White came out against the way things were said more than the content of the statements, but still mostly condemned them.
But despite his supposed suspension, Mitrione will actually have the shortest time between fights in his entire MMA career between the Fuel card and this Fox event, which takes place on July 27 in Seattle.
He'll take on Schaub, who like Mitrione is also a former professional football player, having spent time on practice squads in the NFL. After suffering back to back losses in 2011 and 2012, Schaub got back on the winning track in February with a dull decision win over Lavar Johnson at UFC 157.
UFC on Fox 8 will be headlined by a Flyweight Championship bout between Demetrious Johnson and John Moraga, airing live from Seattle's KeyArena.
Penick's Analysis: Is it surprising that the UFC has lifted the "suspension" this quickly? Not in the least. Is it disappointing? Of course. It makes their entire "code of conduct" out to be the arbitrary joke that many took it as on the surface, because there's no real ramifications to Mitrione here. Dana White has said there were fines levied against him, but there's no announced monetary punishment against him, and it hasn't cost him anything from a fight standpoint because again, he's making the quickest turnaround between fights in his career. It's not even that he should be punished to such an extent that it's detrimental to his entire career, it's that when they say there's a punishment being levied because of a legitimate CoC violation, there should be some weight to it. But there isn't, and now the rest of the roster can see that.
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Jamie Penick, editor-in-chief
(mmatorcheditor@gmail.com)
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