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PELKEY: The Curious Case of Jon Fitch: Could Cutting Him be Best for All Parties?
Mar 31, 2010 - 1:32:46 PM PELKEY: The Curious Case of Jon Fitch: Could Cutting Him be Best for All Parties?

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By Matt Pelkey, MMATorch Columnist

Jon Fitch is 22-3 in his professional career. He's a ridiculous 12-1 inside the Octagon. The only fighters in UFC history with more than five fights with the company and a better winning percentage are Anderson Silva, Lyoto Machida, and Gray Maynard, who are all still undefeated in the promotion. He holds wins over Brock Larson (when that still meant something), Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez, and Paulo Thiago. He once went sixteen fights and five years without losing. On paper, he looks like a hall of famer. He doesn't just win, more often than not he dominates his opponents from bell to bell. So why can't I shake this feeling that putting him on the chopping block would solve everyone's problems?

Perhaps its because despite being tied for sixth all time in UFC victories (along with fellow AKA teammate Josh Koscheck), Fitch is in first all by himself, even above also-criticized welterweight ruler Georges St. Pierre, in victories by decision. He has eight. Eight of his twelve UFC wins have gone the distance. Part of that can be blamed on his level of competition, although while high, it doesn't compare to the murderer's row of fighters GSP has taken on.

Fitch's last seven fights have gone to the scorecards. His stifling top control game, while effective, has begun to produce more boos and bathroom breaks than cheers and championships. Despite winning his last four fights and campaigning for a rematch with St. Pierre, I think its safe to say Jon Fitch is in a rut. That's fine. He's entitled. If only I could find myself in a rut that still has me performing nearly perfect in my profession. Unfortunately for Mr. Fitch, his rut doesn't just affect himself. Its now affecting the UFC's welterweight division as well.

Its becoming clear that while we consider the UFC's welterweight division to be St. Pierre and then everyone else, its really GSP, then Fitch, then everyone else. Its also become stale. St. Pierre has basically cleaned out the division, and while an eventual move up to middleweight will create an immediately fresher scene at 170, Jon Fitch and his lead blanket will be waiting to rule in a poor man's version of the current division. Realizing I could come dangerously close to fighter bashing (if its a no-no on the message boards, it has to be here as well, right?), I want you to close your eyes and picture Jon Fitch as the welterweight champion. Go ahead, I'll wait.

How was that? Exciting? Yeah, not for me either. I can appreciate and enjoy the dynamism and athleticism of Georges St. Pierre. He's basically a flawless fighter. He drags fighters to where they're most uncomfortable and puts on a clinic, often for 25 full minutes. He passes guard and attempts submissions like its an instructional video. Jon Fitch strips away all of the exciting elements of St. Pierre's game and settles for just controlling his opponents. Once upon a time, he actually used his fantastic grappling to finish fights. While those days seem long gone, its not too late. Its time for a change of scenery.

It would be unusual and unprecedented for the UFC to cut a fighter who's 12-1 and on a four fight winning streak, but maybe its what Fitch needs. He's reached a point in the UFC where he can't go back to getting tune-up fights just to get a highlight reel finish. His refusal to fight teammates Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick, also top-10 UFC welterweights, really ties the hands of Joe Silva and Dana White when it comes to finding quality fights for Fitch. If he wasn't fighting in the UFC anymore, this wouldn't be a problem. Instead of having three top-10 fighters who won't fight each other and three marquee match-ups that are impossible, you'd be down to two top-10ers and one match-up we won't see. That's not too bad.

You know who could use a guy like Jon Fitch? Strikeforce. Fitch would immediately become a big fish in a small pond and has a ready-made monster fight with Nick Diaz awaiting him. Strikeforce has their own "AKA situation" at welterweight. Nick Diaz is the champ, but his most intriguing opponent also happens to be teammate, mentor, and Strikeforce Middleweight Champion Jake Shields. Make no mistake, Shields is only in the middleweight division because he agreed to leave 170 for his buddy Nick. So, instead of a homegrown rivalry between their top two fighters at welterweight, Strikeforce is forced to bring in the Marius Zaromskis's of the world for one-off fights to give Diaz a title challenger. Fitch could either be put right into a title fight, or be given a tune-up fight or two against lesser opponents so Strikeforce actually has some highlight footage to show when building to the eventual title fight. Fitch is still young enough for a career renaissance. Sometimes all it takes is a change of venue.

The real winner in all of this would be the UFC, though. It seems a done deal at this point that Jake Shields will be finding his way to the Octagon win or lose after he defends his middleweight strap against Dan Henderson on April 17th. It also seems inevitable that Georges St. Pierre will look to start a new legacy at middleweight, perhaps after one more title defense at 170. Another fighter looking to move up in weight class due to boredom-inducing dominance is BJ Penn. Now, I'm not a proponent of Penn getting a third crack at GSP (generally you need to be 1-1 for a trilogy to make sense. A Penn victory over GSP would mean, well, that St. Pierre is still better. He's proved it twice), but I would LOVE to see him taking on the rest of the welterweight division. Imagine the current UFC welterweight division, but with BJ Penn and Jake Shields swapped for GSP and Jon Fitch.

Penn, Hardy, Shields, Koscheck, Alves, Daley, Thiago, Condit, Kampmann, Hazelett, Johnson, Swick. Pull any two names out of a hat and you have a fantastic (and fresh) match-up. Any of those first nine names could wind up as the champ succeeding St. Pierre. Isn't that kind of uncertainty much more exciting than the absolute certainty of a St. Pierre title defense? Everyone wins. Strikeforce gets a legitimate top fighter, Fitch gets a new beginning, and the UFC breathes life into three divisions (lightweight without Penn, welterweight with Penn and without GSP, and middleweight with GSP and Anderson Silva). All it takes is two fighters to move up and Strikeforce and the UFC pulling the equivalent of a straight-up trade of Shields for Fitch. Cutting Fitch would be beyond unorthodox considering his record and credentials, but if those are the stakes, isn't it a no-brainer?