UFC Quick Quote: Jon Fitch focused on UFC 94 fight against Akihiro Gono … not television line up
By: MMAmania
“[Akihiro Gono] is a very seasoned veteran man. He’s a slick fighter and he knows his way around a fight. He’s been fighting for like 15 years I think. So that is ridiculous. He has had a ton of fights and has only lost a handful of them and has only been finished four times in his career. To be finished four times in 15 years is super impressive. He’s got good leg kicks and kick defense and good wrestling even. His ground game is kind of under rated because he is a good grappler as well. So, he is going to be a tough opponent…. You know I’m not going to let anything outside of the fight [i.e. being on the untelevised prelim portion of the card] itself worry me. I’m there to fight Gono whether it is the main event of the card or the first fight of the night, and whether it is a sold out venue to just ten people in the stands it really doesn’t matter to me. All that other stuff is just outside crap and I am just focused on the fight it’s self and beating Gono and that is all that matters.”
– Former number one welterweight contender Jon Fitch talks to MMANews.com about his upcoming fight against Akihiro Gono at UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2″ at the MGM Grand Garden Arena in Las Vegas, Nevada, on January 31, which is scheduled to headline the non-televised under card. Fitch is coming off a five-round unanimous decision loss to 170-pound champion Georges St. Pierre in August 2008. It was the main event. He is still among the top players in the division, making his appearance in a preliminary match puzzling.
38 Comments »
Akahiro GOno is one of my favorite fighters. I would love to see him beat Fitch, but I wont hold my breathe.
These are 2 top fighters and their fight should be televised. hOpefully it sneaks on to he main card.
Yea hopefully he makes the ppv if the event runs short, but this is total BS, how the hell is the Fitch fight not even televised when he fought and scraped his way up to being a top 10 WW! His last fight was a 5 round UD loss to GSP for cryin out loud, the guy definatley deserves more respect than this; I’m not sure who to blame on this one.
thats what i’m talking about jon!
he’s gonna destroy gono and then take a back seat and let dana kiss his ass after he kicks his gonos ass!
I guess we can soon add Fitch to this list of fighters:
Tito Ortiz
Josh Barnett
Matt Lindland
Frank Shamrock
Dana White is NOT the end all, be all of MMA!
Andrei Arlovski
I got gono. Jon doesn’t know how to fight counterfighters quicker than him. So he’ll try to grind him out and get subbed with a leglock in the 3rd. Write that down.
Getting the crap beaten out of him by GSP was the most exciting fight Fitch has been in. He’s boring to watch, and his and his AKA buddies’ refusal to behave like professional fighters and fight each other is holding up the WW division. That’s why he’s on the undercard.
I can see the lack of match ups being a problem, but he had a great fight against Sanchez, Fiorvanti, tko’d Alves, those were entertaining bouts imo and being that GSP is the only guy in the UFC to beat him, he should at least be televised as the opening bout.
Really PW? Its unprofessional to not wanna fight someone from the same gym? So Anderson Silva is unprofessional for not wanting to fight Machida? Jardine is unprofessional for not wanting to fight Rashad? He’s on the undercard because he had a contract disupute with Dana and Dana is a dick sometimes. Its a punishment for Gono too.. He’s in the top 10 too you know.
Top 10? Fitch is UNDOUBTEDLY TOP 3!!!!!!!
Diego Sanchez changed gyms when GSP started training with Greg Jackson because he has a singular goal of obtaining the title and didn’t want any training conflicts to get in his way. The guys on TUF often end up fighting friends just for a shot to get into the UFC. If those three aren’t willing to fight each other to earn a title shot then they need to either change weight classes or seriously reconsider their career objectives. And if Jardine was the No. 1 contender for Rashad’s title and wouldn’t fight him I would say he same thing about him. As far as Silva goes, he still has the MW class to deal with so Machida is not an issue.
PW – You sir are talking out your ass … He FIN destroyed Thiago Alves who is getting a title shot next , DESTROYED Alves.
He also beat Carneiro by tko and like listed above Fiorvanti and Diego Sanchez … Let not forget that Karo Parisyan ducked him all of 2008 cause he didnt want any of Fitch.
His fight with GSP was a 5 round war , so I disagree with you 100% about him being boring.
Ive also heard him say he would fight Kos and Swick , so your point was pretty moot.
I’ve never heard Jardine say he won’t fight Rashad but I’ve heard Rashad say he wouldn’t take that fight. They kind of have a point, but they need to find a way to work around that. Basically the reason they don’t want to fight eachother is because someone is going to have to move out and train at a different camp for the fight. They’re saying that whoever gets to stay with their familiar training camp is the one with the advantage and whoever has to leave is placed at a disadvantage. I agree though, they should get over it and fight each other.
My ass notwithstanding, I find him to be a boring, dry-humping wrestler who is content to hold people down for three rounds who will occasionally make use of the RNC if the other guys sticks his neck out. Otherwise it’s a 15-minute man-love session. And if he is wiling to fight Kos and/or Swick then they need to get on with it. Dana cannot and should not tolerate three guys who are widely considered top-5 refusing to fight each other.
If I was Dana white I would bring Kos, Swick and Fitch into my office and say:
YOu FOckers dont want to fight each other? Fine! Kos, you were talking all that crap about cutting down to lightweight to fight BJ….so go to liughtweight division. Swick take your ass back to middleweight, and Fitch can stay at welterweight!
Problem solved! If they dont want to swict divisions then man up and fight each other!
dayzah, I wonder why you would call the GSP/Fitch a 5 round war. Let’s be honest here, it was a 1-sided, lop-sided 5 round ass-kicking. A war (maybe I’m wrong) has 2 sides to it.
You might be right Mike, there was little offense mounted by Fitch and a lot of survival, but still that is one tough SOB to take that beating and hang in for a full 25 mins. Nothin but respect for Fitch here.
I too, give respect to Jon Fitch for hanging in there, but in this sport, far more respect goes to the guy who shows most, or all of MMA spectrum, and convincingly wins. Not to mention the true respect and appreciation GSP shows for the sport.
He took a beating for 5 rounds and still hung in there , it was a war for Fitch no?
when I think of wrestlers that just lay on ppl I think of Guida , Sherk and Edgar. Sure they all have some ground and pound but so does Fitch , I dont think ive ever seen him just lay on somebody for 3 rounds , maybe the Wilson fight , it was kinda boring .. Otherwise he usually brings all he has and lays it out there.
Fitch in 5 round war with GSP no way all that was a total dominance of GSP over Fitch. At the end of the fight everyone knew who the winner was no doubt. I have to give him some credit for not getting finished but he never threatened GSP at any time in the fight. Well maybe he threatened to break GSP hand with his face (not recommended). My point is it was not war it was one fighter being dominated by another. I truly believe in a rematch with Alves things will be different. If I was making this card I would’ve put Fitch vs Karo televised and Gono vs Kim non televised. But what do I know I’m just a fan
Ya that makes much more sense , but Karo ducked him in 2008 , not sure what would be different now ..
But then again he said he was taking the Alves fight cause it was less dangerous then the Fitch fight and didnt wanna mess up his title shot in 08 but then he got owned … Imho his promised title shot was made up in his head.
But I disagree that Fitch vs Alves 2 would be any different , I see Fitch dominating him again if it ever happened. His domination in the first fight was similar too the way GSP beat down Fitch but Fitch atleast finished Alves.
I don’t think Karo has anything to loose right now fighting him last year yeah a title shot, but he underestimated thiago so did alot of people me being one of them. Thiago has the title shot now but no nessesarly mean he will get the title shot….. I guess he’s at where Karo was couple of years ago when he was going get his title shot and never materialized. But in a rematch I really think Alves will take out Fitch. He has improved so much I mean he’s the fighter of the year and hes gotten bigger and stronger.
no.1 rule : don’t cross the boss
i’d say its less them punishing him as it is them letting bonnar get his name out there to promote there 205 guys and bonnars movie.. i bet cote’s next fight will be an undercard fight, and florian will be once he loses to bj again..
i myself would rather see fitch fight compared to bonnar but whatever stil a solid card
I don’t care about a drug’d up Bonnar, I’m more pissed off that Karo the Gate Keeper is on the televised card, if anything they should let fitch destroy Karo right after he beats Gono…
Florian is pretty exciting , doubt we see him on the undercard anytime soon.
Id rather see Fitch over the Karo or Bonnar fights.
Gono had seen his day. Still a good fighter, though. But, I don’t believe he was ever on Fitch’s level. Definitely not these days! Of course, anything can happen!
much rather see this fight then bonnar
would be better to see Hardy v Fitch any day
I think that there are a couple of fights on the main card that will not go to the 3rd. And who knowns if Karo will even show up or if he will have another panic attack.
So I think this fight will make it.
I also want this to be on the main card for Gono’s walk out Probably the most entertaining in the UFC. I feal cheated if I don’t get to see it or this fight
The Fitch fight is one that I real want to see. The people that say he is not entertaining must not have seen many of his fights. The only boring fight was the Wilson Fight(more credit to Wilson than knock on Fitch) But the Burkman, Sanchez, Fiorvonti, Hironaka, Alves, and Carnaro were all exciting fights.
This fight will hopefully be the first one played if they have to fill time. I think Fitch gives a good assessment of his opponent. I can’t wait to see this fight.
GSP p4p mma CHAMPION of the WORLD!
I’ll funnel a cold 5.5% beer to that!!!
THIS IS BULL SH$T
FITCH IS WHAT…. MAYBE NUMBER 2 or 3 AT WW, IN THE FREAKEN WORLD, AND HE GOT BUMPED BY KARO!!!! ON THE MAIN CARD!!!!!, SO INSTEAD OF AN ENTERTAINING BACK AND FOURTH WAR BETWEEN GONO ANd FITCH, WE HAVE TO WATCH A ARM WHAILING GORILLA, TRY TO HUG SOMEONE TO DEATH
CRAP!!!
he lost one fight and got in to it with Dana i bet if he losses this fight hes out the UFC
Although I don’t agree with Fitch being on the undercard, comments like these… “whether it is a sold out venue to just ten people in the stands it really doesn’t matter to me. All that other stuff is just outside crap”, aren’t going to do him any favours in the future. UFC’s a business and if you’re fighting in front of ten people, they’re gonna be out of business…and that should matter to Fitch!
fitch is an excellent fighter one of the best but hes not that exciting i wont be surprised if this goes to decision and another fight will take its place on the main card, but who knows hes been training his muay thai so maybe we can see a knockout