Jon Fitch has a legitimate case as one of the three best welterweights in the history of MMA, yet he has only been granted a single shot at the UFC welterweight title. In August of 2008 he was defeated by champion Georges St. Pierre and since that time he has gone 5-0-1. Despite his success his name is rarely brought up as an opponent for GSP.
On MMA Weekly radio, Fitch was recently asked if he knows why he hasn’t been granted another shot at the title:
“I really have no idea,” Fitch told MMAWeekly Radio’s Weekend crew recently. “No one’s every come to speak to me about doing anything wrong or right or whatever, so I’m completely clueless.
“I have no idea what’s expected of me to get the title shots. No one’s ever come to me and said they don’t like what I’m doing or I need to do more of something else. I’m utterly and completely clueless in that regard.”
It remains very odd to me that MMA fans think that results from several years prior mean that a fighter should not be granted a rematch. But I guess the idea of fighter progression and success meaning something is a debate for another day.
Fitch is set to fight Johny Hendricks at UFC 141.