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Jon Fitch
Born	Jonathan Parker Fitch February 24, 1978 (1978-02-24) (age 32) Fort Wayne, Indiana
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 1 in (1.85 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Division	170
Style	Wrestling, Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu, Kickboxing
Fighting out of	San Jose, California
Team	American Kickboxing Academy
Rank	NCAA Division I Wrestling      Black belt in Guerrilla Jiu-Jitsu
Years active	2002–present
MMA record
Total	26
Wins	22
By knockout	4
By submission	5
By decision	12
Losses	3
By knockout	1
By submission	1
By decision	1
No contests	1
Amateur career
Total	2
Wins	2
By submission	2
Losses	0
Other information
University	Purdue University
Notable school(s)	Carroll High School
Official website
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: November 04, 2009

Jonathan Parker Fitch (born February 24, 1978) is an American professional mixed martial arts fighter. He fought Georges St-Pierre at UFC 87 for the welterweight title. Sherdog.com ranks Fitch as the #5 pound for pound fighter in the world. Fitch is also ranked as the #2 welterweight in the world by both Sherdog.com and MMA Weekly.

Biography

After graduating from Carroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana), Fitch enrolled in at Purdue University in 1997 and graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor's in Physical Education and a minor in History. A member of the Purdue wrestling team, Fitch â€“ a four-year letterman â€“ wrestled under the tutelage of Tom Erikson and eventually became the team captain of his wrestling squad.

Erikson â€“ a former PRIDE fighter â€“ would occasionally bring other mixed martial artists to the wrestling gym, and Fitch would be introduced to such fighters as Mark Coleman and Gary Goodridge. The sport, and the money that the top-tier fighters were making interested Fitch, and he started his mixed martial arts career in 2002.

MMA career

Jon Fitch began his career at Light-Heavyweight with a record of four wins, two losses and one No Contest. Understanding that the sport required cross training in the martial arts, Fitch soon left for San Jose, California to train with the American Kickboxing Academy.

In his next seven fights, Fitch amassed wins over fighters such as Shonie Carter, Alex Serdyukov and a disputed decision win over Jeff Joslin. After failing to make the selection process for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter â€“ a last-minute decision by the production team that left Fitch stranded in an airport with his luggage already boarded â€“ he earned a shot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 3, 2005, where Fitch defeated Brock Larson in a middleweight fight.

Drop to welterweight

Soon after, Fitch dropped to the welterweight division and won his next six fights. With victories over Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Luigi Fioravanti and Diego Sanchez, Fitch was now seen as a welterweight contender. At UFC 82, Fitch defeated Chris Wilson by unanimous decision.. This marked his 8th consecutive victory in the UFC, tying the record set by Royce Gracie for most consecutive wins in the UFC. UFC President Dana White praised Fitch's performances inside the Octagon, and indicated that Fitch would fight the winner of the Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Serra Welterweight title fight.

Championship fight

Fitch was defeated by Georges St-Pierre via unanimous decision with scores of 50–43, 50–44, 50–44 in UFC 87.After the fight GSP spoke to Fitch about the growth that his own loss prompted and said that Fitch's experience should be no different. Had Fitch beaten St-Pierre he would have gone on a nine fight winning streak beating Royce Gracie's streak of eight straight wins.

Temporary release and dispute

Fitch was released from the UFC on the 20 November 2008. The dispute was over his reluctance to sign a lifetime contract to allow his name and likeness to be used in a video game the UFC released with THQ. In the end, Fitch ended up signing a licensing agreement that will allow the UFC to feature him in their UFC Undisputed video game release and returned to the UFC. Fitch's exile from the UFC lasted less than 24 hours.

Fitch dominated Pride Fighting Championships veteran Akihiro Gono en-route to a convincing unanimous decision scored 30–27, 30–27 and 30–26 at UFC 94.

Fitch defeated Paulo Thiago by unanimous decision at UFC 100.

Fitch was expected to fight Ricardo Almeida on November 21, 2009, at UFC 106 but due to a knee injury sustained by Almeida, the fight was cancelled. Fitch was then scheduled to face Thiago Alves on December 12, 2009 at UFC 107 in a highly anticipated rematch. However, Alves suffered an injury and was forced off the card. Mike Pierce stepped in to fight Fitch instead. Fitch later defeated Pierce via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).

Fitch was expected to finally face Thiago Alves on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111: St.Pierre vs. Hardy, but on March 25, 2010, Alves was forced off the card due to a brain irregularity that appeared on a pre fight CAT scan. Jon Fitch replaced Jake Ellenberger on the card and face Jeet Kune Do fighter Ben Saunders. He won the fight via unanimous decision.

The Alves/Fitch rematch was finally expected to take place on June 12, 2010 at UFC 115. However, they will now fight Alves at UFC 117.

Personal life

Jon and his longtime girlfriend Michele Cao got engaged the day after UFC 100.

Other media

Jon Fitch appeared on the November 5, 2008 episode of MythBusters, "Coffin Punch". The MythBusters were attempting to determine if someone could punch their way out of a coffin. For his part, Jon Fitch laid on his back and punched up into a sensor, attached to a punching bag that was a few inches above Fitch, allowing his arm only three inches of travel before contact with the sensor. The sensor read that the power behind Fitch's punch was just over 1400 pounds of force (6.2 kN). His first name was misspelled as "John" on the onscreen graphics during this episode.

Mixed Martial Arts record

Result	Record	Opponent	Method	Event	Date	Round	Time	Location	Notes
		Thiago Alves		UFC 117	02010-08-07 7 August 2010			Oakland, California, US
Win	22-3 (1)	Ben Saunders	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 111: St-Pierre vs. Hardy	02010-03-27 27 March 2010	3	5:00	Newark, New Jersey, US
Win	21-3 (1)	Mike Pierce	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 107: Penn vs. Sanchez	02009-12-12 12 December 2009	3	5:00	Memphis, Tennessee, US
Win	20–3 (1)	Paulo Thiago	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 100	02009-07-11 11 July 2009	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Win	19–3 (1)	Akihiro Gono	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 94: St-Pierre vs. Penn 2	02009-01-31 31 January 2009	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Loss	18–3 (1)	Georges St-Pierre	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 87: Seek and Destroy	02008-08-09 9 August 2008	5	5:00	Minneapolis, Minnesota, US	For UFC Welterweight Championship, Fight of the Night
Win	18–2 (1)	Chris Wilson	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 82: Pride of a Champion	02008-03-01 1 March 2008	3	5:00	Columbus, Ohio, US
Win	17–2 (1)	Diego Sanchez	Decision (Split)	UFC 76: Knockout	02007-09-22 22 September 2007	3	5:00	Anaheim, California, US
Win	16–2 (1)	Roan Carneiro	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC Fight Night: Stout vs. Fisher	02007-06-12 12 June 2007	2	1:07	Hollywood, Florida, US
Win	15–2 (1)	Luigi Fioravanti	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC 68: The Uprising	02007-03-03 3 March 2007	2	3:05	Columbus, Ohio, US
Win	14–2 (1)	Kuniyoshi Hironaka	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC 64: Unstoppable	02006-10-14 14 October 2006	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Win	13–2 (1)	Thiago Alves	KO (Up kicks and Punches)	UFC: Ultimate Fight Night 5	02006-06-28 28 June 2006	2	4:37	Las Vegas, Nevada, US
Win	12–2 (1)	Josh Burkman	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	UFC: Ultimate Fight Night 4	02006-04-06 6 April 2006	2	4:57	Las Vegas, Nevada, US	(170 lb) UFC Debut at Welterweight
Win	11–2 (1)	Brock Larson	Decision (Unanimous)	UFC: Ultimate Fight Night 2	02005-10-03 3 October 2005	3	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, US	185 lb
Win	10–2 (1)	Jeff Joslin	Decision (Split)	Freedom Fight – Canada vs USA	02005-07-09 9 July 2005	3	5:00	Hull, Quebec, Canada	170 lb
Win	9–2 (1)	Alex Serdyukov	TKO (Strikes)	MMA Mexico – Day 1	02004-12-17 17 December 2004	2	2:15	Ciudad Juarez, Mexico	170 lb
Win	8–2 (1)	Jorge Ortiz	Decision (Unanimous)	MMA Mexico – Day 1	02004-12-17 17 December 2004	3	5:00	Ciudad Juarez, Mexico	170 lb
Win	7–2 (1)	Mike Seal	TKO (Injury)	MMA Mexico – Day 1	02004-12-17 17 December 2004	2	2:35	Ciudad Juarez, Mexico	170 lb
Win	6–2 (1)	Kengo Ura	Decision (Unanimous)	Venom – First Strike	02004-09-18 18 September 2004	2	5:00	Las Vegas, Nevada, US	170 lb
Win	5–2 (1)	Shonie Carter	Submission (Verbal)	Shooto USA – Warrior Spirit: Evolution	02003-11-14 14 November 2003	3	0:41	Las Vegas, Nevada, US	170 lb
Win	4–2 (1)	Gabe Garcia	TKO (Strikes)	X – 1	02003-09-06 6 September 2003	1	2:41	Yokohama, Japan	185 lb
Win	3–2 (1)	Kyle Jensen	Decision (Unanimous)	Battleground 1 – War Cry	02003-07-19 19 July 2003	3	5:00	Chicago, Illinois, US	185 lb
NC	2–2 (1)	Solomon Hutcherson	No Contest	HOOKnSHOOT – Boot Camp 1.1	02003-03-08 8 March 2003	2	N/A	Evansville, Indiana, US	185 lb
Loss	2–2	Wilson Gouveia	KO (Knee)	HOOKnSHOOT – Absolute Fighting Championships 1	02002-12-13 13 December 2002	1	3:38	Ft. Lauderdale, Florida, US	205 lb
Win	2–1	Eric Tix	KO	UW – Ultimate Wrestling	02002-09-07 7 September 2002	N/A	N/A	Minnesota, US	205 lb
Win	1–1	Dan Hart	Submission (Guillotine Choke)	UW – Ultimate Wrestling	02002-09-07 7 September 2002	1	1:14	Minnesota, US	205 lb
Loss	0–1	Mike Pyle	Submission (Rear Naked Choke)	RFC 1 – The Beginning	02002-07-13 13 July 2002	1	2:35	Las Vegas, Nevada, US	205 lb

Trivia

Lists of miscellaneous information should be avoided. Please relocate any relevant information into appropriate sections or articles. (December 2009)

• According to a recent interview, his preferred nickname is "OOUAH", which was given to him by a group of Thai fighters he was training with. Due to the fact that he threw up several times in his first practice with the team, they made the name up as a way to playfully mock Fitch. The name itself, "OOUAH", is meaningless except as an onomatopoeia of the sound of a man vomiting.
• He was tied with Anderson Silva and Royce Gracie for most consecutive wins in the UFC, which was 8. Anderson Silva has since set a new record with 11 consecutive wins.

1. Gerbasi, Thomas. "Jon Fitch – The Best Unknown Fighter in The World?" (June 26, 2006).
2. Getting to Know Jon Fitch MMAFighting.com, (August 25, 2006).
3. Mendoza, Ricardo. Jon Fitch Ready to Break out in UFC MMAWeekly.com,

External links

• Homepage of Jon Fitch
• Professional MMA record for Jon Fitch from Sherdog