Jon Fitch may be getting another welterweight title shot.
After the longtime UFC fighter and former No. 1 contender signed with new promotion World Series of Fighting following a surprising release from the UFC, it was announced Saturday that he will compete in his organization debut at WSOF 3 on June 14.
The promotion’s president Ray Sefo made the announcement during the live telecast of WSOF 2 just prior to a bout between two other former UFC fighters Josh Burkman and Aaron Simpson, the winner of which he said would be Fitch’s opponent.
Whether it will be for the WSOF’s vacant 170-pound title remains to be seen.
Burkman, who knocked Simpson out with a knee in the first round for his second straight win with the promotion after beating Gerald Harris by decision in the inaugural WSOF event in November, isn’t happy with the pairing. It’s not that he doesn’t want to fight Fitch; it’s that he feels he’s earned a title fight — and he doesn’t think Fitch has.
“I think he should come into the organization and win (a non-title fight), and then they need to put me in against the winner of that,” Burkman told MMAjunkie.com. The 32-year-old, who has now won four in a row overall since a loss to Jordan Mein at the first ever pro MMA event in Ontario in April 2011, added that he thinks Fitch would beat whoever they put him in against.
If the matchup does come to fruition, it would provide a chance at revenge for Burkman, who suffered his first UFC loss at the hands of Fitch at UFC Fight Night 4 in April 2006, following by rear naked choke. Burkman (25-9) was released just over two years later after a three-fight losing streak dropped his UFC record to 5-5.
Fitch fought Georges St-Pierre for the UFC’s welterweight championship in August 2008, losing a unanimous decision. He remained a top contender in the division, but with a very small prospect of getting another shot at the title as long as St-Pierre held the belt.
He was then cut by the UFC after a loss to Demian Maia in February, his second defeat in his past three fights. This came as a shock to many, considering he is still one of the top-ranked 170-pounders in the world. But his reputation for having a boring, wrestling-dominated fight style, combined with the fact that his contract was expensive, according to UFC president Dana White, led to him getting walking papers when the UFC was trimming its oversized roster.
The 35-year-old Fitch (24-5-1, 1 NC) was quickly picked up by the upstart WSOF, which had what it considered a second successful show Saturday at Revel Casino in Atlantic City, which had roughly 2,000 fans in attendance and was seen in the U.S. on NBC Sports Network and free online outside the U.S.
The WSOF is just building its roster, but Fitch is one of its biggest signees and would bring some marquee value to a title fight. The organization hasn’t laid out a plan for any titles, but Sefo said on a conference call last week it would like to hold six events a year and it isn’t currently trying to challenge the UFC as the world’s top promotion.
