“There was no way I was going to go out like that. As long as I had breath in my lungs I was gonna fight and try to win. It sucks looking back at it and it totally changed my frame of mind and what I was thinking throughout the fight [after getting caught in the first round]. I look back at that moment a lot like ‘what if I hadn’t thrown that stupid kick and not taken that punch?’ I’ll have to get back there and try it again…. I’ve got a lot of support right now. People were impressed with my abilities and the fact I stayed in there even though I was hurt. I turned a lot of heads and got a lot of new fans from this fight.”
– Former number one welterweight contender, Jon Fitch, talks to FightNews.com about his five-round unanimous decision loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” on August 9. The American Kickboxing Academy (AKA) standout wants to hop right back on the horse after the hard-fought battle, hoping to return to action as soon as UFC 90: “Silva vs. Cote” in Rosemont, Ill., which is close to his Fort Wayne, Ind., hometown.
106 Comments »
Give him all the respect in the world, but George looked in top form. Looking forward to him beating Penn for the second time.
GSP vs The Prodigy saga continues…
MMA Breaking news:
Jake Shields vs Daley on Oct.4th
http://www.mmaweekly.com/absolutenm/templates/dailynews.asp?articleid=6934&zoneid=2
That will be a great fight for Elite XC’s final card.
GOOD. That is just about the only formidable opponent outside of the UFC and not from Japan that can fight Jake.
First comment and we are already diving back into the GSP vs. Penn waters. This one was suppose to be for Fitch.
Fitch is the man. His approach and dedication is very respectful.
Fitch is a good solid fighter but will never beat GSP or Penn.
who the hell can possibly be impressed with his abilities? what abilities is he talking about because i certainly missed them during the fight? if hes refering to surviving that beatdown, big deal! many fighters have stayed in there even though they were hurt themselves like he says he was. How can he feel that people are “impressed” when he didnt do a damn thing. i mean i could understand it if he was giving him a war, but it wasnt even close! Why does he feel that he’s somehow an exception to the others who have lost and stuck around for the entire fight, like we are supposed to feel sorry for him or something…thats the one thing that bothers me about him.
Herring had the same result, but you dont hear people saying, “great job herring for staying in there, you were great eventhough you didnt do a damn thing after that punch from lesnar”
Well said. I was not impressed at all by his abilities (or lack of abilities).
Agreed
yea he pretty much got destroyed for 5 rounds…but props to him for actually messing up gsp’s face.
amen brotha! for a guy out of aka you would think he would have a little bit of standup. he pretty much got handled. i did not see him do anything impressive
Glad to see him take his loss positively. I’m sure despite his loss Jon has a bright future in MMA.
Seems like GSP was absolutely right when he predicted right after the fight that this loss might be the best thing that ever happened to Fitch.
20/20 hindsight, you will never reach your full potential if you never lose. I bet we will see a new Fitch with an evolved skillset next time around.
Very true. I think this loss will help Fitch like the loss to Hughes and Serra helped GSP. The only real mistake we make is the one from which we learn nothing. This is also true with Bisping…his loss to Rashad helped him realize that he needed to move down a weight class and now he looks a lot more crisp and quick. Look how much better Kenny is after his loss to Sherk. Look at Diego after his back to back loses. There are a lot of examples of fighters that lose that come back stronger than they were before.
This is why if Rashad loses to Chuck…it could be the best thing that happens to him. There’s no shame in losing to a legend like Chuck and hopefully it’ll teach Rashad to really start to put it all on the line in his fights instead of fighting not to lose and break his unbeaten streak.
Buster Bluth – One of the things that I appreciate about Faber’s fights (WEC) is that he puts everything into them, like he’s gunning for the title… even though he already has the title. His title defense against Pulver was a thing of beauty.
Faber sure does throw caution to the side in his fights. He has got to be one of the biggest risk takers in all of mma!
Question to all of you: who will Fitch fight next?
My guess is that if Karo can get passed Yoshida, its going to be Karo vs. Fitch
I’m with you 100% on that one John!
Vm: It has to be Karo. THere is no one left for him to beat up on unless Joe Silva gets sick of the ATT boys refusing to fight each other and he makes Fitch beat up on Kos or Swick.
Karo is the best case scenario
TBH I am a bit annoyed about the ATT guys attitude, same with GSP-Cote and similiar scenarios. If you can’t get in the ring/octagon, beat someone one up be buddies afterwards, you are not friends to begin with.
Fitch-Karo is very likely, but by now Karo must be sick and tired of being the #2-3 contender and getting nowhere. Don’t think Swick has any business at Fitch’s level with his recent fights, Fitch-Kos on the other hand would be highly entertaining.
buster you are on fire today. right on point. the only thing i’m not sure of here is that Fitch doesn’t have the option of dropping to 155. He will never be stronger than GSP. An with those other guys, i feel like they were still developing as fighters so it’s much easier for them to take on new skill sets. I feel like Fitch because he comes from a wrestling background will always look pretty much as he does now. All i see him gaining here is a let it all hang out mindset and possibly better gameplanning. he’s got a black belt already, but i don’t ever see him becoming a fantastic striker. unfortunately he’s in a division with GSP. You gotta love fitch. tough as nails but he’s a little bit of a throwback in MMA. A few years ago he really could have reigned b/c his skill set is far superior to Hughes.
I agree that Fitch would have a very hard time gaining the strength that GSP has. Fitch isn’t going to take on any crazy new skills to help him become a better fighter…he has a good skill set now. The thing he needs to adapt is his ability to adapt to other fighters and match his gameplan to counter their style of fighting and learn to improvise in the cage. He fought the same fight he fought against Chris Wilson as he did against GSP…that’s not going to work. He also came out of each round applying the same plan even though it didn’t work in round 1 let alone round 5. He needs to start becoming more like KenFlo. Kenny is weaker than 70% of the lightweight division however Kenny is smarter than 99% of that division and that’s what helps seperate him from the rest of the pack. If you listen to his post fight analysis you get a feel for how much he adapts and improvises in a fight before and during the fight itself. Same thing with Couture…he evolved even into his 40s and he’s a smart fighter…he adapts…that’s what Fitch needs to do to get to the next level. Fitch has some great skills that have the room for improvement but he’s a pretty predictable fighter and he needs to start mixing it up a bit more.
I agree, but it’s tough to follow a game plan when your opponent is much stronger than you and faster too. He simply didn’t have the tools to exchange with GSP unless GSP want to.
In that case, he must create some kind of game plan to work on his back because GSP can take down anyone in the division.
Totally with Buster on this, I wanna add that you also have to credit guys like GSP & Fitch for the resct they give eachother. GSP was on point when he said it would be his hardest fight ever & it came to be true. Fitch has such work ethics you can not help but love the blue collar work ethics this guy posesses. Like GSP said after the fight to Fitch, this loss is the best thing that can ever happen to him. Just like it did to GSP after his loss to Serra. Theyr mental games will change & knowing Fitch, he is gonna analyze & come back with a vengeance. I am a top GSP fan but Fitch became someone I put at the high list. Can’t wait to see him fight again. 2 stand-up guys. A lot of these trash talkers can learn a thing or 2 from these 2 guys.
Of course GSP is right, he could pass for a psychologist…
hhhhmmmmm what about fedor? his only one loss is not realy a lost.. so he’s unbeaten till now & he’s slowly cleening up the best heavyweights in the world now, remaining challenge for fedor, arlovski/barnett/couture dats it, after that i dont think anyone could come close,
maybe brock LOLZ!
The difference is that Fedor is the top HW, Fitch is good but not the best yet. Sometimes when you are right on the cusp of becoming great, you have to lose to show you that you aren’t invincible. Fedor doesn’t need a loss to light a fire under his ass, he is already the greatest.
fitch gained alot of fans…but even more people said “holy shit GSP is nuts”
i already had a massive amount of respect for fitch now even more id like to see a rematch with him and gsp
He needs some time to polish his skill set and get to the next level. It was an entertaining fight, but he was completely dominated almost the entire time.
I agree that Fitch is good, but was dominated and that doesn’t warrant a rematch. If he wants another fight he will have to be totally dominant in his next 3 fights, or GSP has to go to MW, or GSP has to lose the belt.
Fitch looked in slow motion. GSP was much faster and better.
I do not understand why people talks about Fitch as he was the greatest. He got a super beating. He’s face looked like king kong run over him. Then he said he didn’t get hurt? Who’s he kidding?
He got fans? for the beating of his life?
Most people would’ve been finished after that beating in round one. That’s what impressed people, he somehow found the will to keep going after a strong and skilled fighter had him completely rattled. And obviously he was hurt, but wasn’t seriously hurt to the point of having to take lots of time to heal.
And yeah he got fans. Most people hadn’t seen him fight high quality fights. If he improves his skill set, he’ll be a monster with the amount of heart that he showed.
I didin’t see any improvement on Fitch at all more than hung for 5 rounds and taking a beating. I see a HUGE improvement on GSP, each time he fights is better, faster, bigger, etc.
“Most people hadn’t seen him fight high quality fights”
Are you kidding me!!! what high quality fight!!! You mean GSP quality because Fitch didn’t do anything. He got a beating, he was slow, sloppy, inaccurate. The fight was one sided
I have to agree with tero. And, I am not one of the folks he (Fitch) says was “impressed with my abilities”. If taking a pounding for 5 rounds is impressive than my outlook on the sport must me all wrong. I used to think something impressive would be a good back and forth match with both combatants showcasing skills. Not one man getting his face all bloddy up. Not much skill involved in that. More like a lack thereof. The only person that should have “turned their head” was him!
The only time I was super impressed by someone taking a serious beating was when Penn got stomped by Machida, but that’s because of the huge size difference. Fitch did show heart in the fight with GSP, but didn’t we all know he had heart already?
Are you saying that Fitch didn’t fight? Because I seen GSP’s head snap back a few times from Fitch’s punches. I am the biggest GSP fan I know and I think Fitch gave him a helluva fight, I was scared many times that he was going to knock GSP out with one of his good punches, he had many of them. GSP beat him but it was closer than the score cards will let you believe. Fitch earned a fan over here and I look forward to seeing him demolish all the other WW’s looking for a shot at the champ.
Well said Jay. I like hearing the story come from a GSP fan’s point of view.
I am a huge GSP fan. I don’t like how people discredit fighters for losing to him though, GSP makes a lot of WW fighters look small or weak, but Fitch wasn’t one of those. I use to dislike Fitch and he turned me around, I don’t think that is a small feat in the slightest.
I agree as well, he didn’t really showcase his abilities, it almost reminded me of the Simpsons episode where Homer was the boxer and just got his face smashed in. That’s not really showcasing much.
This was one of those fights where I like both fighters a whole lot. It hurt me to see Fitch get pounded, but what a great fight!
This was my 13 year old nephew’s first UFC event, and he was impressed with Fitch. Surprisingly mature for a 13 year old. Great show for a first timer!
I’m glad to see Fitch has a positive frame of mind still. I’m excited to see who he fights next. I hope Fitch walks right through whoever it is. I just hope that the GSP/Penn fight happens so that all of the debate can end. As it stands now it seems like every thread for the next 7 months will be hijacked about who will win the fight. After that the winner still won’t mean s**t because they’ll have to beat Anderson Silva who would beat both of them right now.
I knew GSP would destroy Fitch…especially on their feet…wrestlers always have a hard time adding stand up into their game, I just didn’t know he would be able to take all that punishment….he earned my respect with his performance. Just don’t see him being able to take out GSP for the WW title any time soon…nobody will…not even Porky Penn
Everybody has finally been giving Jon Fitch his due respect. But the amazing thing is that after tying the record of going 8-0 in the octagon, he needed to lose a fight to finally gain that well deserved respect. Being a huge Fitch fan, I am proud. There are VERY FEW fighters that would have been able to last all 5 of those rounds taking that exact same beating.
Which reminds me of a UFC fight that I sometimes mention. It was Jason Mayhem Miller’s only fight in the UFC. After GSP lost to Hughes in their first fight, his first fight on the path to recovery was against Miller (yes, Miller fought at WW). He didn’t come very close to winning the fight, but he lasted all 3 rounds with GSP which goes to show how much heart he has. He was bleeding from everywhere possible on his face. He took a beating and he was SMILING the whole time. Watching that fight on PPV made me and INSTANT Mayhem Monkey. It’s really a shame that he has never had another fight in the UFC. He got the skills, the heart, AND even personality, so whats the problem?
Besides his UFC debut against Karo which went to a decision (karo was fighting) the only the fighters to face GSP in the UFC and go to the judges are Miller, BJ Penn and Kos. Seeing that BJ is the LW champ and near the top of every lb for lb list and that Kos is currently ranked as the #3 WW, it only furthers the proof that Miller should be in the UFC.
I never saw that fight, I will have to search it out. Why isn’t Mayhem in the UFC? Does he have a beef with Dana? He most definatly has the personality to gain mass amounts of fans in the states.
BNF: He said “Fighting in just 1 organization is like being married. YOu dont get to go around banging other HOt chicks”
LOL, how could you not like this dude.
he can’t stay away from the wacky tabaky
-MAYHEM MONKEY”S REPRESENENT!!-
I am a huge Mayhem fan!..Same shit as you VM. My first Miller fight was the GSP one, and I became an instant fan..Smiling the whole time – I loved it!- …
Mayhem should definitely be in the UFC..He has everything a fighter needs to have to be welcome…Plus he is tight with Joe Rogan…Mayhem Miller not fighting in the UFC is a mystery to me??
Maybe he doesn’t want an exclusive contract. Thats the only thing I can think of.
VM, You bringing up that fight made me pull out my UFC/52 DVD and watch it..I looked up a link on the net so my fellow maniacs can check it out aswell..
For those who have not seen the fight, here is a link;
http://www.mma-core.com/videos/_Georges_St__Pierre_vs_Jason_Mayhem_Miller_UFC_52?vid=10001109&tid=100
…..enjoy
A while back, I went out and bought the couture vs. Liddell Trilogy Dvd set and I was pleasantly surprised when I found the GSP vs. Mayhem fight on one of the dvd’s. That was a great fight and I went back and watched it many times in the weeks leading up to Fitch and GSP because I Mayhem was a great measuring stick to see how good GSP’s submission defense is. I thought to myself if Mayhem didnt Submit GSP, then Fitch and his high level jits wouldnt submit him either.
It was a great fight by GSP, and although Mayhem didnt win he showed what a TUf guy he is.
VM put me on to Fitch a while back and I am happy that after such a gutsy performance he is getting the recognition he deserves. Its WAY OVERDUE!!!
Thanks Bro, I must have missed that fight. 1st time watching, so thanks alot.
Very cool. About an hour after I posted, my comment had no replies. I was like, there must be another Mayhem Monkey out there somewhere this morning? Looks like they were all sleeping in like I wish I could have been…
For some reason, I’ve always wanted to see a Mayhem Miller fight vs. Lightning Murray. Figure we’d either get to see a KO or sub… very unlikely to go to a decision.
What does A Silva have to do with it?
If you READ it, thats the card he wants to fight on next.
It doesn’t matter if Fitch threw that kick or not, his skills are no where close to GSP’s. It was a 5-round ass-kicking. I don’t understand the “what if’s”. Even before he took the initial shot , he was already getting handled easily. Fitch (and everybody else) needs a year or two before handing Georges a loss.
I, too, have gained much more respect for Jon Fitch, however the Canadien swept him 5/5 rounds, so I cannot give him that much credit, at least not the amount that the American press has given him.
I tend to agree. I think he needs to be a little more honest with himself. It’s more than just that one punch. This loss will be great for him if it forces him to confront the reality of his skillset. If it doesn’t he’ll probably need to lose again.
I’m sure with no self-confidence you’ve become a marvel in your field of choice….
No shame in losing to one of the best fighters in the world.
I still love his potential, and future.
Potential and future??? There’s no future for Fitch while GSP is there. what future? Fitch is older than GSP and he’s a boring fighter. What potential? he did show all his skills and that’s all? Against GSP was sloppy, slow and inaccurate. I didn’t see any improvement more than get a beating for 5 rounds.
tero I know you are not new here so why all the disrespect for Fitch? He was able to take GSP to decision, what’s wrong with that? If I fought GSP and made it out of the first exchange I would consider that a victory. If you go 5 rounds with GSP you deserve respect because their isn’t a lot of people who can say the same thing. Just because Georges beat him doesn’t make him shitty, it just means he isn’t number 1 now. I love GSP, but I know when I see someone who isn’t far from GSP’s talent level and I seen it that night in Fitch.
Fitch could go away and I would not miss him one bit. He is one of the most overrated WW in the UFC!!
You can go away and none of us will miss you. I would figure with a name like yoda you could spot talent. Change your name you don’t deserve it.
YODA, what WW’s do you have ranked ahead of Fitch that don’t already have a UFC title???? There are none. Inside MMA rankings had Fitch move down to 3 and Kos to 2, but Bas and company, and myself, do not feel that Fitch should have dropped a spot after being #2 and going 5 rounds with the champ.
Yeah change your name from Yoda to Choda.
I don’t know about that, I hope the comment was a bit of a joke, he didn’t have a great night against GSP but he is a pretty good fighter.
I assume there are some Simpson’s fans on here? Remember when Homer becomes a pro boxer and continues to win simply because he can’t get knocked out? Fitch is Homer and GSP is Drederick Tatum.
Conversation between Moe (Homer’s boxing trainer) and Homer himself…..
Moe: Okay, punching isn’t your thing. But that’s okay. You’re not that kind of fighter. What you’re gonna do is stand there while your opponent gets exhausted from over-punching.
Homer: Then I can just push him over.
Moe: That’s right, and if the ref’s not looking, you can kick him a couple of times.
Lol, one of my favourite Simpsons.
Drat, I posted the same analogy except not as good a little higher up after you.
Sorry Shady – I missed yours. Thought I was being original with my post. Or as original as one can be when quoting the Simpson’s. Dare I say D’oh?!?
I’m also a little tired of him worrying about how many fans he has, and how the public think of him. I guess it’s understandable, but it would be cool if he was like “I don’t really care who respects me and how many fans I have” but that’s not his reality I guess.
Fitch is a class act. He doesn’t need to pull the “WWF heel” card in order to get fans.
He has been saying all along that he doesn’t understand how people don’t know him or don’t like him for no reason. Why would he say he doesn’t care what fans think of him? He just won a bunch of fans in his last fight why alienate those same fans? You do know that we are the ones who pay his bills, right?
Im surprised Fitch is able to see anything the way GSP put a beating on his face. Dude looked like Rocky Dennis from “Mask”.
He gained my respect staying in for five rounds with GSP. The same can be said for Heath Herring these two guys didn’t quit when most guys would have looked for a way out.
You have to love his heart and toughness. He’ll be back and better. GSP has been through what Fitch is going through and it will indeed make him better.
Fitch turned heads?…Why is everyone was surprised that he could take such a beating for 5 rounds?…The fight was completely one sided.. Not once did FItch ever pose any threat to the Champ! The only thing Fitch did was surivive in their (GSP vs Jon Fitch) Fight!…Fitch will take a beating 9 times out 10!…
fitch has the mind of a pitbull he just never says die
I’d like to see Fitch dominate Hughes as a warm-up fight on his way back to contention. And I wish we could force Fitch and Kos to fight.
everybody can dominate Hughes right now.
Think Fitch takes that. I don’t think that’s gonna happen unless either one of them has the belt or one leaves AKA – and I do not see that happening anytime soon.
Maybe one of them will leave if we coax them into it. HEY FITCH I heard that KOS said he is a better wrestler than you.
Jon Fitch put out a tremendous effort and I think that this loss will be good for him like GSP said. He can become a great fighter in the UFC and he has already tied a UFC record. That is pretty impressive. He has potential to one day become the welterweight champion. It was like when GSP lost to Hughes for the first time. I don’t think this is over. Jon Fitch is only 30 years old.
I disagree. It’s different because when GSP lost to Hughes the first time he wasn’t 30 yrs old. GSP is younger and way better. I don’t see Fitch ever beating him. GSP is a freak of nature, and improves w/ every fight.
Anyone else think he faces the Yoshida/Karo winner next….especially if its Karo? The timing would be about right, and most of the other bigger name fighters are booked.
Karo will NOT win. At least I hope he doesnt win haha.
But I seriously have Yoshida upsetting Karo here.
-Fightnews-I wanted to ask you about that. I think a lot of other welterweights would’ve quit at that point. What kept you going after you took that shot?
-Jon Fitch_I wanted to fuckin win! There was no way I was going to go out like that. As long as I had breath in my lungs I was gonna fight and try to win.
This is why Jon Fitch can have such a following after a loss. Fitch was hurt yarly in a fight with a top 3 P4P GSP but kept going forword. Fitch lost all five rounds but he came to fight in each of those rounds. Fitch did not turtle up, get safe in guard, or run away from the fight. In a sport where one punch or bad position can end a fight makes a guy like fitch verry scarry for every other WW in the world. I Am A Fitch Fan and look forword to his next title run
HE GOT DOMINATED FOR 5 ROUNDS
GSP DESERVES ALL THE RESPECT NOT THIS CLOWN
Woah, no one said GSP wasn’t getting his due respect. But this thread is about Fitch, he deserves fans, seeing as how he has been so unloved for so long. I use to hate him just for training with KOS. Stupid right? But the dude is really nice and has a warriors spirit, who can say anything bad about him now that we seen how dedicated he is to winning and to putting on a good show for us? He didn’t quit even though he had to know he was losing on every score card. He came out just as determined to win in the 5th round as he did the 1st. I like the guy for the effort, and remember I use to hate him for no reason.
Anthony Johnson vs Fitch come on!! AJ would dominate him..
r u serious
I usually Learn after i get my ass kicked too
HAHA! yea.. its humbling
I bet his plastic surgeon is now his #1 fan!
Fitch loses to GSP in his prime and all of a sudden he sucks? AJ could beat him? Did you even see the fight? It was a good fight, the kind of fight we always ask for, but when we get one we all say that the loser sucks, why? Would you, or anyone else in the WW division do better than Fitch did?
Jay, I agree. Fitch is a top five welterweight and a warrior. GSP did take it to him but he kept battling. His face was a little scary after the fight though. Would have been perfect for Halloween.
100…
as in 100% effort given by Fitch in that title shot. He’s made a huge name for himself with this fight for the casual fans. In essence, both guys won that night.
i know he got dazed in the 1st but when he was going toe to toe with GSP, i was waiting for him to make his move, throw some combos, setup a takedown or something. That same night, Brock faked a jab, faked shoot, and landed that BIIIIIG right on Herring. That was a premeditated assault.
Everytime he would throw a combo… GSP would take him down. Fitch is a workhorse, but GSP just has too much talent for him to catch up to.
This fight could have been stopped at least 4 times. If the UFC wants to continue to get sanctioned and endorsed they had better change . No one needs to take a beating to the head like Fitch did. I have seen this fight at least 4 times and cringe at how many strikes Fitch took without the ref stepping in . I fail to understand what the ref was waiting for.
St. Pierre is simply 10 times better than anyone he will face in the WW Division! Unless lightening strikes, GSP DOESNT LOSE!