Jon Fitch tries to convince everyone that he deserves another title shot
Published by Zach Arnold on January 27th, 2010 in Current Events

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UFC’s March 27th event in Newark, New Jersey is headlined by Georges St. Pierre defending his UFC Welterweight title against Dan Hardy. However, most of the media attention will be focused on the Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin fight to determine a #1 title contender for Brock Lesnar’s UFC Heavyweight title belt.

On the Newark undercard is a potential #1 contender’s bout in the Welterweight division between former #1 contenders Jon Fitch & Thiago Alves. Alves is coming off of a loss to St. Pierre last July at UFC 100. Fitch, meanwhile, is coming off of another unimpressive performance in which he (once again) couldn’t finish an opponent and decided to take it to the scorecards. It’s Fitch’s lack of ability and his constant need to go back to his comfort zone of wrestling that puts a ceiling over his potential to become the Welterweight champion.

Fitch has faced St. Pierre before a couple years ago in Minneapolis and got destroyed in the fight. Since that fight occurred, Jon Fitch has given the fans little reason to believe that he has improved to the point that he could take on St. Pierre in a re-match. Because of this belief, it’s very hard to book Fitch in the Welterweight division if you don’t believe that he can become the champion.

When Fitch and Alves square off on March 27th, all the pressure will be on Fitch. Not only does he have to win but he also has to finish Alves, which is unlikely to happen. In a recent interview with Inside MMA on HDNet, Fitch commented on the different paths the two men have gone on since they first fought each other over three years ago.

“You know, I think the biggest thing is mentally [Thiago]‘s matured a great deal in that time period, I think he was pretty young when we fought, mentally and his wrestling has increased, his wrestling defense is much better, he’s harder to take down and he’s a little bit bigger and stronger. I think he’s matured also physically, so a little bit more power. Maybe he’s slowed a little bit, I don’t know, we’ll see.

“I’m peaking, you know, I’m in my prime. I plan on being in my prime for the next 10 years. I’ve changed my diet around, you know I got the fiancée, my future wife has been taking good care of me, so I feel younger now than I did a few years ago, you know I’ve been seeing a strength and conditioning coach, working a lot on speed and agility, I feel like I’m a much better athlete than I was a couple of years ago. So I mean I’m a much improved fighter than I was when we first fought and so he is so this makes for a really good match-up and we’re both fighting for another crack at GSP, so we both have something big that we want out of this fight.”

If Fitch beats Alves by decision and neutralizes him for three rounds, that will not win over fan support nor will it win him the #1 contendership in the Welterweight division. This reality is something that Fitch acknowledges.

“If I stop him, I don’t see how they can deny me a shot with GSP, you know, at that point I would have stopped somebody twice that GSP couldn’t finish in five rounds. So, I think that makes a very strong argument for me getting another title shot.”

With the rumors of St. Pierre considering a permanent move to Middleweight (185 pounds), Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves could only be so lucky if that move happens. Otherwise, the two men will forever have a permanent glass ceiling in the division. Neither man is beating St. Pierre any time soon. With this in mind, it makes it harder for both men to market themselves as the elite-level fighters that they really are.

In order to try to get the word out about himself and market himself in a positive light, Fitch was recently filmed for a new documentary called “Such Great Heights.” He believes that anyone who sees the documentary will become a fan of not only him but also the many fighters followed at American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose.

“We just have to get it out there for everyone to see, so you know take advantage of the hard work all the guys did to put that movie together.”

On Inside MMA, clips from the documentary were shown. Fighters discussed why they do what they do and what motivates them to be the best that they can be.

“You have to live it. Simple as that. You got to live fighting. Daily. You’re going to get punched in the head.”

“It’s something that’s in you. You’re not normal to chose to be a fighter and put everything in the world on hold.”

Ironically, the centerpiece of the film is about the lead-up to Fitch’s biggest fight against St. Pierre in Minneapolis, which was an absolute mauling.

“This is the biggest thing that I’ve ever been a part of,” Fitch says when looking at promotional materials hyping up the St. Pierre fight.

Fitch was asked on HDNet to explain why “Such Great Heights” would be a different kind of MMA documentary than other ones already produced (like “Smashing Machine” featuring Mark Kerr or the new documentary featuring Jens Pulver coming out soon.)

“Yeah, it’s a very good movie without the train wreck quality that you get from most successful documentaries. It shows what it is to be a fighter, what it means to be a fighter. It shows a lot of different levels from myself to guys just starting in the sport, guys who have been around a long time and haven’t gotten anywhere yet. It just shows you what it means to be a fighter and why we’re doing this and what it means to us.”

As for how the documentary covered Fitch’s loss to St. Pierre, he puts it this way.

“Yeah, it shows the aftermath you know, the stuff immediately after the fight, the stitching in the ambulance. You know, back in the hotel room with my parents and fiancée and then family. So, it shows you a bit of the sport that a lot of people don’t ever really get to see.”