Penick's Take
PENICK: Jon Fitch released from the UFC, here's who remains on the welterweight roster
Feb 20, 2013 - 6:45:12 PM PENICK: Jon Fitch released from the UFC, here's who remains on the welterweight roster

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By: Jamie Penick, MMATorch Editor-in-Chief

News broke on Wednesday afternoon that welterweight Jon Fitch was among 16 fighters released from the UFC on Tuesday. Fitch's name being on that list was shocking given a number of factors. For starters, Fitch is one of the most successful 170 lb. fighters in the history of the UFC, compiling a 14-3-1 record in over seven years inside the Octagon.

Second, despite years of criticism against his fighting style, his last two bouts were much more entertaining, and he won one of them in a "Fight of the Year" candidate against Erick Silva last October. Third, the loss leading to his release was against a top flight competitor in Demian Maia. Fourth, he was listed as the ninth best welterweight on the UFC's roster in their latest official rankings.

If this makes you angry, you're not alone, and it's an even more maddening release given some of the fighters who are still on the UFC's welterweight roster.

Here's a breakdown of the UFC's current welterweight field, starting with those contracted fighters who have winning records inside the Octagon:

* Georges St-Pierre (17–2)
* Johny Hendricks (11–1)
* Carlos Condit (10–2)
* BJ Penn (12–8–2)
* Josh Koscheck (15–6)
* Thiago Alves (11–6)
* Demian Maia (12–4)
* Martin Kampmann Hitman (11–5)
* Nate Marquardt (10–4)
* Mike Swick (10–4)
* Matt Brown (9–5)
* Mike Pierce (9–3)
* Matthew Riddle (8–3 (1 NC))
* Nick Diaz (7–5)
* Rick Story (7–4)
* Dan Miller (6–5)
* Dong Hyun Kim (7–2 (1 NC))
* Mike Pyle (7–3)
* Dan Hardy (6–4)
* Amir Sadollah (6–4)
* Jake Ellenberger (7–2)
* John Hathaway (7–1)
* Robbie Lawler (4–3)
* Rory MacDonald (5–1)
* Seth Baczynski (4–2)
* Kyle Noke (4–2)
* TJ Waldburger (4–2)
* Brian Ebersole (4–1)
* Court McGee (3–2)
* Sean Pierson (3–2)
* Claude Patrick (3–1)
* Pascal Krauss (2–1)
* Gunnar Nelson (2–0)
* Chris Clements (1–0 (1 NC))
* Ildemar Alcantara (1–0)
* Benny Alloway (1–0)
* Siyar Bahadurzada (1–0)
* Marcelo Guimaraes (1–0)
* Colton Smith (1–0)
* Robert Whittaker (1–0)
* Tyron Woodley (1–0)

There are only three fighters with double digit UFC wins with less losses than Fitch, that being Champ Georges St-Pierre, former Interim Champ Carlos Condit, and current contender Johny Hendricks. Now, here are the list of fighters with .500 records and below still under contract with the UFC:

* Matt Serra (7–7)
* Justin Edwards (2–2)
* James Head (2–2)
* Che Mills (2–2)
* Erick Silva (2–2)
* Sergio Moraes (1–1)
* Stephen Thompson (1–1)
* Josh Neer (6–8)
* Patrick Cote (5–8)
* Paulo Thiago (4–5)
* Nick Catone (3–4)
* Yoshihiro Akiyama (1–4)
* Lance Benoist (1–2)
* David Mitchell (1–2)
* Simeon Thoresen (1–2)
* Keith Wisniewski (0–3)
* Papy Abedi (0–2)
* Kenny Robertson (0–2)
* Jason High (0–1)
* Brock Jardine (0–1)
* Bradley Scott (0–1)
* Besam Yousef (0–1)

That's a lot of fighters with much worse records than Fitch still holding a spot. The rest of the UFC's roster contains fighters who have yet to make their official debuts:

* Adlan Amagov
* Nah-Shon Burrell
* Ryan LaFlare
* Hyun Gyu Lim The Ace
* Neil Magny
* Jon Manley
* Jordan Mein
* Quinn Mulhern
* Tarec Saffiedine
* Chris Spang
* Yuri Villefort
* Bobby Voelker

It's a large list of fighters competing in the welterweight division. The UFC contractually owed fights to a number of the competitors in Strikeforce, and their roster size has been bloated for some time. Cuts are a necessity, for sure, and many more will be losing their place on the roster in coming months. But, with space needing to be made, there are even more fighters coming off of losses in their last fights who are still getting another fight in the Octagon.

Here's the list of fighters still on the UFC's welterweight roster who lost their last fight:

* Josh Koscheck
* B.J. Penn
* Brian Ebersole
* James Head
* Erick Silva
* Thiago Alves
* Rick Story
* Claude Patrick
* Seth Baczynski
* Paulo Thiago       
* Josh Neer
* Chris Clements
* Amir Sadollah
* John Maguire
* Mike Swick
* Jake Hecht
* Keith Wisniewski
* Lance Benoist
* Brock Jardine
* Yoshihiro Akiyama
* Stephen Thompson
* Nick Catone
* Papy Abedi
* Brad Scott

Say the UFC needs to cut upwards of 10-15 fighters from their welterweight field, there are more than enough names on that list alone who deserved their pink slip before Fitch. But unfortunately, a likely combination of bad blood towards Fitch from the UFC for past dealings, along with a higher pay grade than many of the names on this list, means one of the ten best out of 70+ contracted fighters is now no longer going to be fighting in the Octagon. It's a shame to see, really, and it's one of the more unfortunate moves the UFC's made in quite some time.