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Again on this week’s episode, Purdue grad and former NFL player Matt Mitrione found himself at the center of attention. Mitrione, working through soreness or an injury in his left shoulder, takes some flack from his teammates and coach Rashad Evans, who believe he’s overdramatizing and perhaps doesn’t want to fight.

And again this week, Mitrione tells The Times in our exclusive weekly Q&A just what is what.

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Tell us more about the shoulder injury. You and Rashad got into it a little bit over you wanted to get a cortisone shot and work through it, and him saying that would be a bad thing for you in the long run. Give us your thoughts on that.

I don’t feel that it was appropriate for Rashad to try to tell me I was being foolish for getting the shot. The time frame of me injuring my shoulder and looking to get a shot was four or five days. Of those handful of days I took time off, took around 3600mg of Ibuprofen a day, iced, ice massaged, did muscle-specific movements to work/relax the muscle — and none of it really worked in the time frame that it needed to. People can voice whatever opinion they choose, but I’m not hearing anyone who tries to tell me that I don’t know my body or the consequences of what I’m doing. I’m educated and I have been playing at an elite level for a LONG time. I listen to my body and do what it tells me to do.

Rashad again this week is a little critical of you, both in the confessional interviews as well as in the gym. In the confessional, he says, “Meathead has his own way of doing what he wants to do.” And to your face, he says, “You’re too dangerous for your own good.” All of a sudden, it seems like you’re being perceived, at least by Rashad, as his problem student.

I honestly couldn’t care less how Rashad and his crew chose to angle this. If they had THAT much of an issue with me, then why wouldn’t they just wash their hands of me and tell me to do what I wanted? I don’t know why my shoulder is causing people to have this much input/opinion on my life/work ethic/personality. Seems to me that I was simply trying to take care of my body the best way I know how in a limited amount of time. Obviously, the doctor agreed — he felt the cortisone shot was the best option for me, as well.

PHOTO COURTESY OF UFC/ZUFFA Matt Mitrione, Purdue graduate, former NFL lineman and contestant on Season 10 of "The Ultimate Fighter" on Spike TV, airing Wednesdays at 9 p.m. Central.

Rashad called you a “drama king” and said you go back and forth between being hurt and not being hurt. And you, yourself, even said in the confessional that perhaps you were being “a little bit of a baby.” How accurate was this week’s episode in portraying the shoulder injury?

This is a trick question. The portrayal is accurate, but there are several things that were reported incorrectly about it. First, I shot baskets with my RIGHT hand. That has nothing to do with my LEFT shoulder. The football footage was taken after my cortisone shot had started taking effect and it was less sore. It was actually the same day as my practice where Rashad and I got into it about icing. It felt better and it showed, but for them to get all emotional about it makes me laugh. If an athlete is coming back from an injury and beginning to work at a “normal” level, once the brunt of the work is completed on the site of the injury then icing should begin to flush out inflammation and lessen soreness. This is what I was trying to accomplish and had all intentions of working my right hand on the bag.

Now, for the first time this week, you had to hear Rashad saying that you’re showing tendencies as the team’s “weak link” and that he wasn’t sure about your sore shoulder, but he’d like to give you a sore lip. Your reaction?

He has absolutely no clue about what he is talking about and that will be painfully obvious rather soon. None of them had ever seen me fight, as I had my fight taken down off of YouTube. He was just talking to talk. The only way Rashad would give me a sore lip is if he bumped it on all that extra skin on his head when he shot in to take me down. He would never dream of standing and punching with me. He might say it, but he doesn’t mean it. Trust me.

Watching the show through the first five weeks, how has your opinion of Rashad perhaps changed?

I really don’t like how all of these coaches talk so much trash behind my back, but don’t address this to my face. Like I said before, they had no clue how I fought and just how good I am. So begrudgingly, I accept it as pure speculation, searching for flaws in someone you don’t know — and Rashad just being a (jerk). I will not go out of my way to acknowledge his existence again, ever.

What about your reaction to hearing other fighters in the house — your own teammates, in particular — saying they don’t believe you want to fight?

I honestly didn’t care if they thought I was faking it. I was pretty removed from people talking trash about this situation, so most of this is new to me. Like I’ve said before, I didn’t come on to the show to make friends. I came out to win. At the time, I wanted to prove myself as being a competitor, but not to get validation from them.

You had some nice He-Man references. I’m assuming you were a fan as a kid. What else were you into as a kid? Take us into the life of a 10-year-old Matt Mitrione.

I was a fan and had plenty of the action figures, but apparently Ram-Man or Battle Cat’s arms didn’t come off (like I said on the show), so they weren’t interchangeable. I must not’ve been as much of a fan as I thought I was.

Once again, you guys pick up a win in the fight. Your thoughts on Wes Sims vs. Justin Wren? And your thoughts on being 5-0?

The fight was quick and rather surprising. We all expected a little more out of Mr. Sims. By us going 5-0, we all realized that we were going to fight each other soon. That made things a bit strange.