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[killakem1]

Jake Shields and Dana White Are Pissing Jon Fitch Off | Five Ounces of Pain

After the Josh Koscheck vs. Georges St-Pierre matchup for the UFC welterweight title in December at UFC 124, Jake Shields looks like the next likely candidate for a title shot – if he can get past Martin Kampmann when he makes his debut in the Octagon next Saturday at UFC 121.

“If Jake Shields should win against Martin Kampmann, it will probably be him next,” UFC President Dana White said at the UFC 124 press conference.

Shields is now 25-4-1, and while that looks damn good on paper, he is as yet untested in the UFC. The former Strikeforce belt-holder vacated that promotion’s middleweight title to join the UFC after notching his 14th-straight win with an April victory over UFC and PRIDE veteran Dan Henderson.

It’s hard to argue with Shields’ resume. The first and last Elite XC Welterweight Champion, Shields is the former Shooto Middleweight Champion. He trains with Cesar Gracie and is a member in good standing of what has come to be known as The Scrap Pack along with his fellow Gracie disciples Nick Diaz, Nate Diaz and Gilbert Melendez. His last loss game to Akira Kikuchi, and that was 5 years ago. Shields is currently the #3 ranked middleweight in the world in the USA Today Top 25 poll and somewhat prematurely ranked as the #7 pound-for-pound fighter in the world by Sherdog.

Kampmann, now 17-3 for his MMA career, has won 4 of his last 5 bouts, a streak which includes a win in June win over Paulo Thiago.

Here’s my issue with giving Shields a title fight after only one contest for the UFC; where does that leave perennial contender Jon Fitch?

Fitch firmly believes he should get a crack at the winner of the Shields-Kampmann tilt for the next title shot, and that makes sense for a whole list of reasons. The problem is, and it’s a big problem for UFC matchmaker Joe Silva, what do to with current champ Georges St-Pierre in the interim should he retain his title against Koscheck.

St-Pierre is a mighty draw for the UFC, and leaving him on the sidelines as the welterweight contenders sort themselves out is hardly a pretty picture for the UFC.

According to Fitch, that’s not his concern and he’s ready for his shot at the title.

“I would be a little perturbed if Shields got a title shot before fighting me,” Fitch said. “He’s done a lot, but he’d have one fight in the organization and Kampmann’s got losses to guys who aren’t even in the organization anymore.”

That is a very valid point, but it looks like the future holds some annoyance for Fitch regardless of his excellent oratory…

[James Deuce]

That's what happens when you've proven to be very, very boring. I personally don't mind Fitch's fighting style, but when you want to draw money, I can see why Joe Silva/Dana White are hesitant towards Fitch fighting for the belt. Granted Shields isn't much better either in that department, but at least you can slate him as a champion of another organization, he's much more accredited.

[b1uef1ow]

LOL at the over exaggerated title.

[Chute_Boxe44]

See what pisses me off about the whole situation is the fact that Fitch has openly said that IF Kos wins he won’t challenge him for the title. How can White possibly want to give the set go ahead for Fitch when he wouldn't even be interested if it’s not GSP he's fighting? It’s pretty ridiculous to me I'm sorry.

Now besides all that, here he is bitching about a hungry Shields finally coming to the UFC to prove himself (after years of anticipation) and he acts like the guys "skipping in line". He's been proving himself more than worthy of a contender over the past five years with a solid resume at welter weight AND middle weight. So in my eyes if he does take out Kampman, he is deff the number 1 contender for the title. Fitch had his turn, he failed. Now give Shields his turn, due to the fact that he is possibly the last major threat to GSP's reign who hasn't already had a chance.

[Pasha K]

Fans are not happy about the Edgar-Maynard match, they wont be happy with a GSP-Fitch match, First of all Fitch is extremely boring and secondly GSP already destroyed him in the past.
Its maybe not fair to Fitch but Dana only cares about money and he knows that he can hype Shields as the next big thing and a PPV headlined by GSP vs Shields would get much more buys than Fitch vs GSP II.

Also Fitch complains that Shields would have only 1 victory before a title shot. LOOL, that is very common in UFC.
Lesnar only had one win before a title shot, Vitor also has only 1 victory, Shogun had 2 victories but he looked very bad and he still received a title shot.
Funny thing is that both Brock and Shogun are now champions and in many people´s opinion they are almost invincible, and Belfort could also be the next champion aswell.

[killakem1]

Originally Posted by b1uef1ow

LOL at the over exaggerated title.

agreed but cant change it though due to rule 17 of this fourm

“I would be a little perturbed if Shields got a title shot before fighting me,” Fitch said. “He’s done a lot, but he’d have one fight in the organization and Kampmann’s got losses to guys who aren’t even in the organization anymore.”

works with vitor should with sheilds. im not sayin, im just sayin

Originally Posted by Pashak

Also Fitch complains that Shields would have only 1 victory before a title shot. LOOL, that is very common in UFC.
Lesnar only had one win before a title shot, Vitor also has only 1 victory, Shogun had 2 victories but he looked very bad and he still received a title shot.
Funny thing is that both Brock and Shogun are now champions and in many people´s opinion they are almost invincible, and Belfort could also be the next champion aswell.

1 fight not victory. brock had 2 fights with 1 victory. right about vitor as i stated, and shogun had 3 fights prior to a title shot. not saying 2 in a row against chuck and coleman is worthy of a title shot but anybody that knocked out chuck at that time got one.
rashad got one with a draw with tito and wins over michael bisbing and ko on chuck. thats how the ufc lhw was at that point

[BBG]

Good post.

Shit I am Fitch fan and I agree with your assessment.
John really needs to put guys away in a more dominate fashion. Even if its in decision, it should be dominate. I guess I would like to see more of a BJ/Frankie II fight for Fitch. Because if he really cant show a more versatile skillset on the feet, he really is just going to be considered a blanket. He needs to start doing some damage when he fights.

[DanC]

This raises the whole issue of the UFC being more official about it's rankings. Sure, we're always aware of the number 1 rank in any weight-class (obviously, as it is the champion) and most of the time we're clear about who the number one contender is. But my issue is that sometimes number one contenders are given the position, when (if we looked at who they had fought before) they may not technically be worthy of the rank.

Fitch is a guy who, with the exception of his loss to GSP, has not lost a fight in 7 years. Sure, he's not the most interesting of fighters, but I think that's quite a subjective way of viewing his style, it is boring to some, but not to others.

I'm sure a lot of guys will disagree with me, but as far as I'm concerned, a win is a win. Fitch deserves the title shot, whether he has fought his way up the ranks in an exciting way or not. Being exciting does not make you a better fighter, it simply makes you a more marketable commodity.

[Pasha K]

Originally Posted by DanC

This raises the whole issue of the UFC being more official about it's rankings. Sure, we're always aware of the number 1 rank in any weight-class (obviously, as it is the champion) and most of the time we're clear about who the number one contender is. But my issue is that sometimes number one contenders are given the position, when (if we looked at who they had fought before) they may not technically be worthy of the rank.

Fitch is a guy who, with the exception of his loss to GSP, has not lost a fight in 7 years. Sure, he's not the most interesting of fighters, but I think that's quite a subjective way of viewing his style, it is boring to some, but not to others.

I'm sure a lot of guys will disagree with me, but as far as I'm concerned, a win is a win. Fitch deserves the title shot, whether he has fought his way up the ranks in an exciting way or not. Being exciting does not make you a better fighter, it simply makes you a more marketable commodity.

Maybe he indeed deserves a title shot, to have only 1 loss in 7 yeras is very impressive no matter if you use LnP or not as your main martial art. But as I have said, Dana knows that fans dont like Fitch, he is not entertaining, and that means not a lot of people will pay to see that fight so its less money for Dana. UFC is a business and Dana is a businessman and for any businessman the No. 1 priority is money.

[The Return Of......]

as i said in a post wayyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyyy before dana ever this.


the title fight should go to fitch IF he agrees to be next in line now. fitch has not done that. instead he is taking a wait and see approach. but instead of just waiting to see what happens with gsp vs kos, he tries to call out the next potential challenger.

fitch may be boring, but he deserved first crack at a title shot. while he might not of completely turned down the shot he hasnt exactly said hell yea i want the next title shot. so, tough shit, if shields wins i say give the shot to the guy who says i want the fucking title shot, not wait and see if maybe i guess i might depending on if my friends loses or not take the title shot.

you either want the shot or you dont. and fitch hasnt stepped up and said he wants it.