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[The Donosaur]

I'm surprised Dana hasn't genetically engineered a 170pd lake monster with little name value for Fitch to fight just to shit on him a bit more...

[Rumble]

I like this match up. Mainly because I want Erick Silva to steam roll Fitch. That way we could have a possible Rory vs E. Silva fight (if Rory wins). A battle of two up and coming beasts!

[trustkill]

This is a real step up in competition for Silva. The top tier of the WW division is littered with elite wrestling talent, so Silva needs to prove himself. Fitch isn't much of a threat in the stand up, so this should be a classic striker vs grappler mismatch. Definitely looking forward to this one.

[MetallicKnight3X]

Maybe Dana is just setting up Silva's coming out fight.. kinda like he did with Glover. Beating names like Fitch and Rampage will bring both of these guys on the map. And they both are beasts everyone in their divisions need to take notice now.

[mmawolverine]

wow rich clementi you must forfeit your nickname to fitch there is a new "no love" in the ufc, fitch better get on his kness and welcome bj back to aka and get help cause he is about to get KO'ed again

[Masscore]

Wow, Fitch loses one fight and all of sudden he is chop liver?

Silva is getting thrown in the deep end with the sharks and I guess we get to find out if he is going to sink or swim. The guy has a lot of hype behind him and Fitch has nothing to lose at the moment.

Fitch via UD 30-27 across the boards.

And I will sig bet anyone on this.

[AnchorPunch]

Originally Posted by Masscore

Wow, Fitch loses one fight and all of sudden he is chop liver?

Silva is getting thrown in the deep end with the sharks and I guess we get to find out if he is going to sink or swim. The guy has a lot of hype behind him and Fitch has nothing to lose at the moment.

Fitch via UD 30-27 across the boards.

And I will sig bet anyone on this.

i'll take you up on that if i'm not too much of a rookie for ya

the fitch of old wouldn't be as easy of a fight as people are making him sound. but i just don't think vegan fitch looks like he can really handle someone as explosive as silva. i think fitch is moving in the direction of becoming lighter and weaker, which is very very bad for his style.

[Dr. MMA]

There are some question marks here as Fitch is coming off another injury and a devastating loss. Silva is extremely explosive; I think if Fitch can weather the first round storm, he takes it 29-28 UD.

[Masscore]

Originally Posted by AnchorPunch

i'll take you up on that if i'm not too much of a rookie for ya

the fitch of old wouldn't be as easy of a fight as people are making him sound. but i just don't think vegan fitch looks like he can really handle someone as explosive as silva. i think fitch is moving in the direction of becoming lighter and weaker, which is very very bad for his style.

Thats fine., 2 weeks?

[Fedorlei Gomipierre]

I'm not a Fitch fan, but I've got my money on him via UD, even coming off the long layoff and the loss, however I have a few issues with this matchup.

While I have Fitch ranked in the WW top ten, despite coming off a loss/injury, I have Silva quite a bit down in the rankings at WW, relatively unproven(although he appears quite explosive....) and unknown to the casual fan at the moment. The original Simpson matchup for Fitch wasn't particularly exciting because Simpson was unproven at WW, but I could see the UFC wanting to bury Fitch in a lacklustre bout against another grinder.

Here, I don't really "get" what the benefit for either fighter, but especially Fitch. IMO, he's in the kobayashi maru spot here, if he wins it is because he should given his caliber of skill and experience and if he loses, it is to a lesser known, lower-ranked fighter, who will basically be making their career off of a win over Fitch.

Now, by putting Silva in there with Fitch, whose gameplan is pretty much established, Silva's either going to blast him quick or get snuffed out for the full fifteen, but at this juncture in his UFC career, why put him in such deep waters so soon? Fitch is a massive step-up in competition and stylistically, it is a pretty awkward matchup with Silva looking for fireworks and Fitch looking to grind. If they're trying to build Silva as a future contender, I think a slower build would be preferable, even building fights against talents like Alves, Siyar, Akiyama etc, who will be willing to bang and would help build Silva's resume and highlight reel. Flipside, fighting and losing to Fitch puts Silva down the ladder after a performance where Fitch potentially neutralizes his steam and bursts his hypetrain.

I see this as an example of spiteful ZUFFA matchmaking, trying to stick it to Fitch.