Post by PdW2kX on Sept 14, 2011 15:00:26 GMT -5
Just thought I'd pass this along, ya'll know what to do if you like what you read.
Jon Fitch's Next Opponent Revealed: 11-1 Johnny Hendricks
What’s next for Jon Fitch? This has been a question that many Fitch fans have been wondering ever since he lost his shot at the UFC Welterweight Championship. Since then, Fitch has bounced up and down the cards, from fights that mean little to main event fights, and has kept winning and dominating opponents with his smart wrestling. But that wrestling also means that most of Fitch’s fights just aren’t that exciting, which is why the UFC still seems so hesitant to utilize him. Recently, it’s been announced that Fitch will fight Johnny Hendricks in December.
MMA Weekly confirms that Fitch and Hendricks will do battle at UFC 141 in December. The event currently scheduled for December 30 will also feature a huge Heavyweight clash between former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem.
Jon Fitch is currently 5-0-1 since losing to Georges St. Pierre in 2008. That one draw came in his most-recent fight, when he fought UFC legend BJ Penn in the main event of UFC 127. Before that Fitch had rattled off consecutive victories over the likes of Thiago Alves, Ben Saunders, and Paulo Thiago. The fight with Alves was supposed to be a “contender eliminator” fight, but the UFC ended up changing their minds. This likely had to do with the fact that Jon Fitch keeps fighting to a decision: the last time he finished an opponent was in 2007.
Johnny Hendricks, meanwhile, is an 11-1 newcomer to the sport, with his only loss coming to rising star Rick Story. Seven of the eleven wins of Hendricks have come by stoppage, with six TKO victories. Hendricks fought in the UFC in only his sixth professional fight, and made his UFC debut by TKO’ing Amir Sadollah, a winner of “The Ultimate Fighter”.
A few weeks ago, Jon Fitch delivered a fired-up interview where he put seemingly everyone on notice: the UFC, his next opponent, even Nick Diaz. He said he wanted to start finishing people in spectacular fashion.
He’ll get the chance to do that against Johnny Hendricks.
Hendricks does not go down without a fight, he’s not afraid to get down and dirty, and he’s got a tremendous will to succeed. Hendricks is a “dark horse” favorite of mine, I respect his tenacity and I can appreciate his skill. Some part of me honestly believes that a loss to Johnny Hendricks would be the best thing for Jon Fitch’s career at this point, because it may finally snap him out of his rut and convince him that he really does need to start finishing people in order to get noticed in the super-crowded Welterweight division.
I’ll say this, though: on any given day I like Jon Fitch’s chances against any Welterweight fighter in the world. Fitch’s wrestling is at such a high level that when he gets into the cage, more often than not he makes his opponents look like they’ve never trained takedown defense once in their life. That’s how good he is on most days. I’ve learned to “embrace the grind” as Joe Rogan once said, and I’m definitely a big fan of Jon Fitch.
While I’m sure it’s not the top-division threat Fitch was hoping for, I remain both excited for this fight and very interesting in seeing how it plays out.
Jon Fitch's Next Opponent Revealed: 11-1 Johnny Hendricks
What’s next for Jon Fitch? This has been a question that many Fitch fans have been wondering ever since he lost his shot at the UFC Welterweight Championship. Since then, Fitch has bounced up and down the cards, from fights that mean little to main event fights, and has kept winning and dominating opponents with his smart wrestling. But that wrestling also means that most of Fitch’s fights just aren’t that exciting, which is why the UFC still seems so hesitant to utilize him. Recently, it’s been announced that Fitch will fight Johnny Hendricks in December.
MMA Weekly confirms that Fitch and Hendricks will do battle at UFC 141 in December. The event currently scheduled for December 30 will also feature a huge Heavyweight clash between former UFC Heavyweight Champion Brock Lesnar and former Strikeforce Heavyweight Champion Alistair Overeem.
Jon Fitch is currently 5-0-1 since losing to Georges St. Pierre in 2008. That one draw came in his most-recent fight, when he fought UFC legend BJ Penn in the main event of UFC 127. Before that Fitch had rattled off consecutive victories over the likes of Thiago Alves, Ben Saunders, and Paulo Thiago. The fight with Alves was supposed to be a “contender eliminator” fight, but the UFC ended up changing their minds. This likely had to do with the fact that Jon Fitch keeps fighting to a decision: the last time he finished an opponent was in 2007.
Johnny Hendricks, meanwhile, is an 11-1 newcomer to the sport, with his only loss coming to rising star Rick Story. Seven of the eleven wins of Hendricks have come by stoppage, with six TKO victories. Hendricks fought in the UFC in only his sixth professional fight, and made his UFC debut by TKO’ing Amir Sadollah, a winner of “The Ultimate Fighter”.
A few weeks ago, Jon Fitch delivered a fired-up interview where he put seemingly everyone on notice: the UFC, his next opponent, even Nick Diaz. He said he wanted to start finishing people in spectacular fashion.
He’ll get the chance to do that against Johnny Hendricks.
Hendricks does not go down without a fight, he’s not afraid to get down and dirty, and he’s got a tremendous will to succeed. Hendricks is a “dark horse” favorite of mine, I respect his tenacity and I can appreciate his skill. Some part of me honestly believes that a loss to Johnny Hendricks would be the best thing for Jon Fitch’s career at this point, because it may finally snap him out of his rut and convince him that he really does need to start finishing people in order to get noticed in the super-crowded Welterweight division.
I’ll say this, though: on any given day I like Jon Fitch’s chances against any Welterweight fighter in the world. Fitch’s wrestling is at such a high level that when he gets into the cage, more often than not he makes his opponents look like they’ve never trained takedown defense once in their life. That’s how good he is on most days. I’ve learned to “embrace the grind” as Joe Rogan once said, and I’m definitely a big fan of Jon Fitch.
While I’m sure it’s not the top-division threat Fitch was hoping for, I remain both excited for this fight and very interesting in seeing how it plays out.
