“I predict I beat GSP for the strap!”
– Top welterweight contender, Jon Fitch, text message from last night to MMAmania.com after Georges St. Pierre toppled Matt Serra at UFC 83: “Serra vs. St. Pierre” to earn the undisputed 170-pound crown. Fitch will challenge St. Pierre next for the title; however, no date or event for the showdown has been announced at this time.
April 20th, 2008
113 Comments »
Not on your best day fitch
Mark my words… Fitch Via triangle submission.
Fitch will come out ready to fight from his back and will catch GSP.
Fitch is a mental giant while everyone knows GSP is a 13 year old girl trapped in a mans body.
Ya ok if you say so.. are you kidding me what makes you think the fitch will choke him out when serra ablack belt under gracie didnt even come close to any move and oh ya i love the way how in fitchs last fight he almost got choked out what once for sure maybe twice. um no GSP via ground and pound
Fitch was offered the fight against hughes when serra got hurt before gsp! Fitch DECLINED!
dude he turned down the fight cause it was less than a month for a camp
(fitch comes down from about 200-205 to 170) and was waiting to fight at 82 cause he is from the midwest so take his size into play when your talking about how he has better takedowns than koscheck and that fitch is way bigger and strong than kos he got hyped up alot more cause the show his resting is good no great but fitchs is just better man you gotta look at the fight not as a gsp but as a smart fan and youll see gsp by no means has this in the bag
What happened to that triangle chock noob. Yeah thats right, FUCK YOU
Would anyone expect him to predict anything else?
…of course not. it would be weird if he said ‘i predict GSP hands my @$$ to me in a silver platter’. so i understand why fitch would say such a thing. havin said, that, i would respond:
‘GSP will hand your @$$ in a silver platter’.
sorry fitch. but youre toast!
It’s more about getting the discussion going — of course he wouldn’t predict anything else.
Fitch is being smart! He is trying to make some noise! I got no problem with that. He has been flying under the radar for way too long and has just started getting the respect of the casual fans.
As for the match up vs. GSP. This will be the most competitive title fight we have seen at welterweight in a long time. I exdpect GSP to win, but he wont just run over Fitch. Fitch also has the advantage (like he did against Diego) that his but buddy Koschek has already fought GSP so Fitch and his camp will be famialr with gameplanning for GSP.
GSP doesnt blow through people, he is very methodical with his approach. This fight will be a fight that the fans get their money’s worth because it will last at least 3 rounds and be a hard fought battle.
Enjoy this fight beacuse it will be the best title fight seen in the welterweight division in a while. I expect an All oUT WAR!!!
Sorry John but I have to disagree. Fitch is waaaay overated and will be exposed in this fight. He wont make it out of the second round. He had alot of trouble with Wilson and was lucky to win that fight. Gsp has been mowing top people over lately with literally no resistance. How can u honestly believe it will be different with Fitch when his strength(wrestling) is not even as good as gsp’s wrestling. Cmon now.
Dude read my post! I said I expect GSP to win the fight! What more do u want? I give Fitch a little credit and you Jump down my throat. This is with out a doubt the most competitive welterweight title fight possible in the UFC involving GSP.
If it makes you feel better fine, I will say it, GSP is the greatest fighter on this earth and no 1 will even be a challenge! Happy? WTF, GSP is great but to say Fitch is over rated…GO AWAY!!!
I believe Serra and Hughes have both predicted the same thing. It hasn’t worked out well for them overall…
I think Fitch can expect the same results….
All this guy does is bump his gums. GSP will destroy this guy. He won’t be as fortunate as Matt Sarah, this fight will be over early in the first round. The mind games didn’t work with GSP for the Serra fight so why does he think that they’ll work now. I wouldn’t even respond to this chump if I were GSP.
I’m a big fan of Fitch’s but I dont see anyway how he can beat GSP. I’d predict a 2nd rd tko maybe 3 but i doubt it would last longer than that. GSP is better at everything striking wrestling etc. But I never thought serra would ko george so who knows
Likewise
The problem is i see Fitch as just a lesser version of GSP, they are similar in styles with GSP having an advantage in all areas.
If Kos and Hughes couldn’t out wrestle GSP, Fitch can’t. So that means he will rely on standup… oh dear, he looses that as well.
Probably the only aspect of the fight game that Fitch has over St Pierre is his guts and composure when caught in submissions. Sorry pal, not enough.
Silva vs GSP is what we’re all waiting for.
to be honest if somebody is going to beat george in the welterweight division i think it is going to be koscheck he is the only guy who even put up a fight against georges in his last 3 fights. I think kos is a better fighter than fitch as he has better wrestling and better striking. But i dont think anybody is going to even come close to st. pierre for awhile except if bj penn moves back up to welterweight which i think is highly likely
Agreed. But i think if Davis or Alves o even Anthony Johnson can get good enough at wrestling they could pose a big threat to GSP. In this fight I see GSP either winning late or by decision. I def dont think it will end as quick or quicker than the serra fight.
Let’s make a promise. Nobody talks about Anthony Johnson as a contendor until he beats ONE person worth a shit! He got beat by Rich Clementi before beating a completely inept Tommy Speer. Anthony Johnson will NEVER be able to hold GSP’s jockstrap.
Thank you. If people need to be reminded how foolish it is to speak of AJ as a title contender, here you go: Houston Alexander.
Ok listen up: At this point “Rumble” is not a contender, but do not discredit the potential that this kid has. After GSP he may be the most gifted athlete in the UFC. He has got old-Vitor-belfort-like hands and good wrestling. He is in no way shape or form ready for a title shot right now, but in the future he may become something special!
Anthony Johnson looks like a future champ, but not anytime soon.
dude does look scary! isay give him a year or two and then we’ll see.
completely agree
although fitch 100% deserves the next shot
i cant see what fitch could do to him
if KOS went back to his wrestling base i think theres a chance he could take GSP
would also like to see him face alves and possibly karo just to shut karo up
only other fight left for him would be BJ stepping up a weight class
BJ imho won the first fight and fully deserves a rematch id say he was next in line after fitch as after BJ takes out sherk there isnt really anyone at 155 who can hang with him
i love the dana comment on the ufc 84 buildup
if you think your better than bj he would come and face you in your own back yard for free
and if by some mirracle you did manage to beat him
he would come around every day to prove he was the best
i guess BJ may need to face kenflo but in all seriousness BJs standup is way superior as is his ground game
with all respect to kenflo id be suprised if it went longer than 2 rounds
What do you think of Jake Shields? He already tapped out Fitch in a Gracie event. He won’t be more athletic than GSP, but could probably neutralize his height and strength advantage and be dangerous from his back. I don’t see GSP bullying Shields like he does everybody else. Shields is too smart and skilled of a fighter. With his size, wrestling and BJJ background, I think he’d be the perfect prototype to giving GSP problems.
If Jake Sheilds were in the UFC, he would be a top 3 welterweight for sure. That kid has some serious skills
i agree, but w/3 wws already from that camp it would hard to make fights. i think shields is probably the best w/ no disrespect to fitch,kos, or swick. well maybee kos.
Yep, I would have to agree, Kos is the #2 WW at this time. Everyone seems to have forgotten about Hughes,although only one guy has shown he’s better since 2001.
fitch = st pierre’s bit(h
jaja fitch dreams
Fitch’s greatest asset is his wrestling (and maybe his size), but GSP is the best wrestler in all of MMA right now. Fitch has already started talking a little trash by saying that he thinks GSP is afraid of getting knocked out, but look how long Hughes reigned with his wrestling. Now that GSP is an even better wrestler, who knows how long his new reign will be. Still, Fitch will pose the greatest challenge for GSP in the WW division. He has, arguably, the best mental game in the division.
I’d be trying to entice a guy to stand, who has been dominating guys with his wrestling ,however I doubt GSP will take the bait.
i’m sorry but i think the champs in every division are holding the straps for a long time…they need some sort of round robin w/all the champs at a catch weight b/c it should be a while before one of them loses (this doesn’t necessarily apply to heavyweight however.)
Hey Jon Fitch, one message for you. Strap your mouth and just do it. The UFC is all about winning and not words…Hehe!!
Well going 9-0 in the UFC doesn’t seem to get too much attention
Fitch, I hope you are training hard. I hope your heart is in the right. As Jay Z said, “I got 99 problems but a bitch ain’t one.” I hope you can claim the same. I hope you are not distracted by anything in your personal life. I hope you sleep, dream, shit, and eat George St. Pierre Juice. I hope you watch all his past fights, I hope you are lifting and running with logs. I hope you are hitting the gym. I hope you are training in BJJ. I hope you are running until you vomit. I hope you are kicking the shit out of the heavy bags. I hope you are watching Rocky and Bruce Lee movies for motivation. I hope, i just hope you are ready for St. Pierre. He didn’t just beat Hughes and Serra, he destroyed them. Did you hear me? He destroyed them.
Cue theme song to Karate Kid “You’re the Best, AROUND!”
That was some serious cheese…sorry.
St. Pierre is going to be the champ for a while. He’s gotten scary good at wrestling. I’m a huge Davis fan though. I think he’d give him a good fight, because he’s a big 170, and he’s got a great chin.
Might see GSP’s stand up in this one. He could probably outwrestle him and work the ol’ gnp, but maybe he’ll switch it up a little….cause his stand up is way way way ahead of fitch’s.
Fitch has to do something to hype. “I predict that everything I do, GSP does way better” probably won’t cut it.
after fitch’s last performance, i doubt it. If chris wilson had half the wrestling skills of GSP, we wouldn’t be talking about this.
alright guys, I’ll post again tomorrow, but here I am for a quick second. While I think GSP was clearly wining (very decisively), why exactly was the fight stopped? What was there, 10 seconds left in the round, he wasn’t “rocked” and had flipped out of that same position 3 times already. No excuses, he was getting dominated, and would have had to connect with a one punch bomb to change things around, but still, why stop it?? Every time he flipped around, I though he was trying for a triangle, and was obviously waiting for the bell to sound the end of the round. Don’t take this as Serra was winning or gonna win, he wasn’t. GSP was dominant, but once again, knees to the body stopping a fight??? I’ve been watching and training mma for 12+ years now and have never seen anything like this. That fight where pete sell hit (forgot who) in the liver then got knocked out was a more devastating body blow, or when melvin guillard stopped a fight with a body shot, but this seemed premature.
Other than that, Lutter is pathetic, not as pathetic as starnes, but sickening to say the least! I picked Lutter, and thought he had that arm bar, but I got to give all the credit in the world to Rich Franklin. To get out of that arm bar, and then totally pound out a win was impressive. I also was impressed by (as expected) Bisping. Yes, tupperware wasn’t any type of test, but he looked crisp and ripped. That said, does he have power in those hands or knees?? I predicted him to be a contender by year end and stand behind that, but he has no chance against Silva, but no one does at this point.
Fitch, Karo or any one else are easy fights for gsp, and Silva would kill him at MW. I think once BJ beats sherk, he will bump up to be the only guy to hold 2 belts at the same time.
Lastly, nate quarru looked better than he ever has, and can’t wait to see him against someone who actually wants to fight, and that fight at the end (goulet) was great!! Mac Danzig looked good (as his opponent was very underrated), and overall I got my moneys worth. 7/10…but next month is shaping up to be 10/10, with june looking weak!!
I don’t agree. I think it was closer to 20 seconds, but even if it was only 10, would you really want to take knees to the ribs for 10 more seconds like that? Those weren’t no love taps man, those were GSP on his feet throwing mad knees with all he had, and Serra’s body getting rocked hard from them. I have free PPV’s so I’ve seen the fight three times now. While I do agree that the fight could have kept going, it would have been pointless. If Serra held in for the remainder of the round, his ribs would have been crushed and possibly puncture a lung. Also the ref is supposed to stop the fight if the person getting beat down is no longer intelligently defending himself. I wouldn’t say Serra was defending himself very well, I promise you he had trouble moving around at all today.
He wasn’t defending himself at ALL. At the end, he was taking knees to the body over and over again while his face was burried in the mat…he wasn’t even moving, except for when gsp would knee him and his body would jolt.
I agree, it was an odd stoppage - however I didn’t see Serra contesting it at the end so I suppose Serra didn’t have a problem with it. Looking forward to Hughes v Serra at any rate.
I really thought Lutter had that armbar; Franklin must have some really flexible shoulders for him being so big.
Fitch could pose some problems for GSP, as they are both great wrestlers - I think we may get to see some more striking in their fight.
I really hope Bj and GSP win their next fights to possibly set up the clash between the two… I would still have GSP taking it; but it won’t be easy by any means.
If you watch the replays of the fight, at the end where they show the slow motion bits, you’ll notice Serra isn’t defending himself. His hands are on the mat, head down, and his whole body is just torqued to the side with every knee GSP gave him. Four in a row and not even an attempt to do something different. I know Serra said he was waiting out the clock, but it would have been stopped anyway. Ten more seconds meant ten more knees. At first I did think the stoppage was weird, but watch it back again and the ref did the right thing.
If anyone has a chance to watch a full replay–after the end of the fight Serra was talking to Dana as he was leaving the ring and asked “Did I got out for a couple seconds?”
Serra was just letting GSP gas himself out to dominate him in the next…..sorry, I can’t finish that sentence. That was a good stoppage. Serra was keeping his hands high. Covering up his head and if he dropped his arms to cover his sides, George starts in on the head. If it goes to the third, it really doesn’t change the final outcome.
If I would like to see one thing outta this is more respect given to Serra. He earned it. He took a hell of a beating and still didn’t quit and didn’t tap. He was constantly moving for things on the bottom but just didn’t have the answer on Saturday. He didn’t get it for winning the first time. Give it up now, people.
If Serra agreed with the stoppage, you have no argument. Put a fork in him, he was done. Silly people and their silly excuses. He rolled out of GSP because GSP let him so he could punish him while his defenses were down. Did it look like he was trying to stop him from rolling? No. He let him go, postured up and pounded his face in.
no excuse dude. no excuses. gsp out classed him. i think hughes/serra is about 50/50 and serra is a natural lw and would do well to move back down. took ya long enough.
How about Anderson Sylva dropping down to fight GSP! Now that would be a good fight! Fitch,I dont think would stand a chance!
Silva said, he would maybe move down, but not up, when he was asked if he would move up. Where’s the challange in that.
i hope they don’t turn these guys into coaches for TUF.
If Fitch was coaching TUF you would see more dry humping than a month’s worth of Skinemax Late Night.
These are steep words. I watched Skinemax Late Night for a month solid and there was a LOT of dry-humping. It just seemed like it was scene after scene of non-stop dry-humping. Fitch is in better shape though, better cardio, and his mental game is tops in the WW, so it might be an interesting match-up. Skinemax has that huge loyal following…
Really, there’s nothing else Fitch could say. It’s what everyone says… they’re going to win. He has to believe in himself. Once he gets owned, it will be a different story.
Jon Fitch and maybe Diego Sanchez are the only ones worthy in WW capable of beating GSP but he will still probably come in as a 3 to 1 underdog.
lol, i cant wait until Fitch gets his ass kicked by GSP!
Well GSP said he was gonna take time off!!!!!??? I really dont think that will sit well with Fitch, cause if he could, Fitch would fight at every PPV.
So to keep Fitch waiting like this, I just have that feeling that maybe GSP, and Fitch will be the coaches for TUF, They should do a Canada vs USA TUF if they are gonna do GSP Fitch for the coaches, and maybe in the PPV have a canada vs usa 2.
And i would not be surprised if the fight was in Montreal again.
Wouldn’t make sense. Noone but hardcore fans would tune in. Casual fans wouldn’t watch if they made Fitch a coach. Thankfully, I think that will keep them from putting the belt on hold for the show again.
I do like the idea of USA vs. Canada in the house though. People have mentioned the same with Brazil. Interesting ideas.
No worries, 2 weeks is what GSP considers, time off. I hope like hell they don’t tie up the WW div. with that stupid show. Champions should be defending their belt 3-4 times a year.
yeah just like you should have dominated chris wilson! we will see…i was not impressed at all by john fitch in that fight. gsp is never disspointing win or lose!
why dont they just meet at a weight somewhere in between
and make it a non title but still 5 round “exhibition match”? fight at 165 for bj and 177ish for silva?
gsp by decapitation
Yeah sure, Please tell me who this guy has beat besides Diego ? And In my opinion Diego won that fight.
Let the talking for the fight begin….. GSP via DEATH
i like fitch-daddy alot. he’s an awesome fighter and i think he’s only going to get better. but objectively speaking AND on paper he’s at a serious disadvantage. i think fitch’s strongest quality may be his ability to break a fighter down and develop strategies, the only problem is he’ll be going up against possibly the greatest stategy executor in mma right now. georges always comes with very good strategies and has an uncanny ability to implement them nearly flawlessly, dominating good guys in the process. he’s been in wars, he’s faced the creme, and he understands now that preparation is the key to his success, his athleticism and drive will take care of everything else. fitch has a chance for sure, just a minimal one. he won’t outwrestle georges, he won’t get him down, and if he does he won’t have him down for long or cause much damage, his striking looked awful against wilson, he’s not nearly as fast, explosive or athletic…there’s just no area that he’s significantly better. he’ll get dominated just like the rest. i think the only guy who can pose a legit threat to georges in the next while is koscheck, if he gets back into the mix with a decisive win over lytle.
perfectly stated man. I agree 100% with all of that.
GSP is going to annihilate that caveman looking motherf*ker! Keep running your mouth!
who’s jon fitch? haha.
why can’t we just all look at everything in order. lets start off by talking about the “next” UFC! damn, we’re like hoppin’ all over the place. who cares about this jon fitch?! haha. stress!!!! i gotta go and get another bag of weed.
…..*BJ Penn by third round submission(rear naked choke)
I was at the bar Fitch was watching the GSP fight and his prediction was 4th round TKO if he got it on with GSP. He seemed to be a pretty down to earth guy. I like Fitch but its going to be tough to take that belt away from GSP.
Matt Serra was receiving blows to his kidneys and ribs, he received 4 knees in a row, and he didnt try to intelligently defend himself thats why the fight was stopped. Serra just turtled up and was motionless, of course for his safety the fight was stopped. I thought the same when it happened, but after watching it hundreds of times, GSP definitely was putting a hurt in the kidneys area, which is very dangerous to been mauled there.
So I don’t see no prob there. Plus Serra didnt complain for it, he understand the stoppage, even though he said the knees werent doing much damage, but with what was left in the round he could have taken 5-7 extra knees to that area, and that would have been dangerous for him. I think the ref made the right decision.
I always thought Fitch would be GSP, however, they way GSP destroyed Koz, Hughes and Serra … I dont really see it happening. Fitch didnt look that great in his last fight, and GSP is showing he is the best pound for pound fighter in the world.
Dear Dana,
Please skip the Fitch fight and put GSP against The Spider. We have some great places in Australia for this to take place.
Cheers
DownUnder
Fitch Round 2 via Rear Naked Choke
What the f**k have you been smoking?
Fitch’s pubes
The only choke you’re going to see is a RAPE CHOKE and Fitch will be on the receiving end of it!!!!
i think he’s thinkin about another type of strap
Take a look at the way that Anderson Silva demolished Rich Franklin in their last 2 fights, it seems hard to believe that Rich is the 2nd best in the devision and capable of beating everyone else. Just because Fitch is on winning streak it does NOT mean that he is gonna be able to take GSP. Fitch is a very tough competitor, capable of beating any of the WW’s, but GSP is about 2 years ahead of him in all aspects of the game (including wrestling). Fitch didn’t look that great in his last fight, especially when he tried to stand with Chris Wilson.
yeah he’s good but couldn’t outstrike wilson and also got caught in a triangle and was saved by the bell in the 3rd. would be happy if he could somehow get an upset anyways to keep gsp grounded
I think Fitch is a good fighter but his lackluster performance against Chris Wilson at UFC 82 shows that he’s DEFINITELY not ready to take on GSP… no way in hell…
Besides, his fighting style is roughly the same as GSPs and thats the problem - GSP is stronger than him AT HIS OWN GAME. If theres one guy who will beat GSP, it will be someone who has a different (and stronger) fighting style than GSP- perhaps a sick BJJ/submission fighter or an extremely technical kickboxer with good takedown defence.
BJ and Silva are the only fights that make sense for GSP. Put quite simply he will dominate anyone else.
As much as it pains me to say i think he would dominate BJ now as well. His wrestling and G&P would just overwhelm him.
If Chuck Liddell came down with an eating disorder and became 170 lbs. he would beat GSP lol.
fitch doesnt stand a chance! i think we are gonna see GSP strike with this guy and knock him out first round. gsp’s take down defense in unreal, so wouldnt worry about fitch getting him down. if the feet arent working then georges will take him down and gnp like last three bums. GSP via ko round 2.
meant rd 1 lol
I hope the UFC has Serra/Hughesus fight on the same card as GSP’s first title defense agianst Fitch….Then they could have winner fight winner for the title…
Imagine if Serra and GSP both won. And they had GSP defend his strap in the first ever NY event agianst Serra in a rubber-match?…That would be nuts…
Cant wait to here the date for this one. Fitch’s only chance would be fighting an unfocused GSP, which will not happen again since being embarrased by Serra the first time. Get used to GSP with the belt, he will have it a while!
Hughs vs Serra
Fitch vs Gsp
Kos vs Alves
Wilson vs Hazlett
Lytle vs Karo
Ryo Chonnen vs Anthony Johnson
Burkman vs Goulet
Diego vs Swick
Fitch would get beat just like every other wrestler gsp has faced.
And on top of that, Fitch is BORING.
i just dont see fitch doing any better then hughes