5 athletes who made MMA their second career

#5 Matt Mitrione

Mitrione(right) has a nine wins and three losses in his MMA career so far

Currently, 37-year old Matt Mitrione is a mixed martial artist who fights in the Bellator MMA. But just like Hershel Walker, Mitrione also used to be a professional American football player in the initial part of his career. He has played college football at the Purdue University and has played professionally with the New York Giants and the Minnesota Vikings in the National Football League (NFL) . Mitrione has also been a featured fighter on The Ultimate Fighter: Heavyweights.

After just four seasons in the NFL, the American decided to make the switch to MMA when his close friend and a baseball player, Jayson Werth, persuaded him to fight in his inaugural promotion. Mitrione, then, decided to train with fighters Chris Lytle and Jake O'Brien. This got Mitrione to start his professional fighting career in 2009 and won his first five fights in The Ultimate Fighter and UFC. After 2011, Mitrione faced disappointment as he lost his 6th and 7th fight.

But his record improved to 9-3 in his favor as he made a comeback to pose victories. He then lost his 13th and 14th fight. But after 15 fights, Mitrione’s record stands at 10-5 as of 24th June, 2016, which is impressive considering how the man came into MMA from football.