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Jon Fitch may be returning to action the same night as his UFC 87 opponent Georges St. Pierre. According to a report at MMAMania.com, Fitch has been offered a fight agreement to face off against Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 in a fight that was supposed to take place at UFC 82 back in March. Gono was pulled from that card due to an injury.
This will be Fitch's first fight following the end of his five year winning streak this past August in a Title fight with Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. Fitch gutted through the five round battle, nearly being finished off multiple times throughout the night, en route to a unanimous decision loss. He now stands at 8-1 in the UFC, and is looking to get right back in the picture at the top of the welterweight division.
Gono's last action came in a split decision loss to Dan Hardy at UFC 89. He is 1-1 in the UFC, but has a wealth of experience from his years in Japan fighting for multiple organizations.
Penick's Analysis: After witnessing first hand the heart and determination that Jon Fitch possesses, I cannot wait to see him in the Octagon again and again and again. This fight with Gono is one he should win, and he'll be trying to back up the list in the welterweight division for another crack at St. Pierre. Fitch is still in the top class of welterweights in the UFC, and his gutsy performance at UFC 87 was one of the great unrelenting battles of survival in this sport. After being nearly knocked out in the first round, he completely came back in the second round, and simply found that GSP was far too much for anyone on that night. At the same time, he never gave up, even recovering from getting rocked several times later in the fight as well, and hung on through the entirety of the 25 minute fight. It was an absolutely great fight, and one of the best of 2008, so again I can't wait to see Fitch get back to work.
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