The bout between Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves at UFC 117 was supposed to clarify who would be fighting the winner of Josh Koscheck and Georges St. Pierre for the UFC Welterweight Championship. But with Alves not making weight and losing the match and Jon Fitch winning in what many call "unspectacular fashion", it's unsure who will meet the winner of Pierre/Koscheck. Throw in an upcoming fight between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann and what you've got is a convoluted mess.
Logically Jon Fitch would be next in line to fight for the UFC Welterweight Championship. Since entering the UFC, Fitch has an amazing 13-1 record with his only loss coming at the hands of the current welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. Even though Fitch has thirteen wins in the UFC, nine of Fitch's wins have come via decision. Numerous MMA fans have booed Fitch's style of fighting, which consists of wrestling and smothering his opponents. Some MMA fans have even gone to lengths of defacing Fitch's Wikipedia page.
There has been no word yet from Dana White if Fitch will receive the title shot for the welterweight championship. Perhaps White is letting the recent fan reaction to another decision affect who will be the next number one contender. Or maybe White is worried how tickets will sell if Fitch is a headliner.
Now that Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann have been officially scheduled to fight at UFC 121, one of these two could possibly get a title shot. Although Shields is new to the UFC, he brings in quite a fight resume. Shields is on a 14 fight win streak, most recently beating Dan Henderson at Strikeforce: Nashville. Shields vacated the Strikeforce Middleweight Championship when he departed Strikeforce for the UFC.
Kampmann is 8-2 in the UFC and 4-1 since moving down to welterweight in January of 2009. He most recently dominated Paulo Thiago at UFC 115 where he won via unanimous decision.
Kampmann and Shields would be excellent choices to vie for the title, as they are both crowd favorites and would surely sell tickets. MMA may be an exciting sport, but it is also a business and the UFC is in the business to make money.
Although some MMA fans would rather see certain welterweights than others get a title shot, whatever the decision may be, Shields, Kampmann, and Fitch are all worthy of the opportunity.
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Comments
Since Fitch lost so decisively to GSP, a better match would be either the winner of Shields/Kampmann or Condit if he defeats Hardy. If Paulo Thiago wins in spectacular fashion over Diego Sanchez, I'd love to see Paulo Thiago fight either Condit/Hardy/Alves or maybe English standout John Hathaway.
The GSP/Koscheck fight is still a while away. They could have Fitch fight the winner of Kampman and Shields for a shot at the title. If they gave fitch the shot now, its four months to the GSP/kos fight and then prob another four months atleast till the winner of that fight is ready to go again. Fitch would be on the shelf for the better part of a year.
Don't think kampman is worthy
I don't know that Shields is such a crowd favorite. A lot of people are referring to him as "Boring Shields." His performance against Henderson was an excruciating 25 minutes to stay awake during. I don't even know why Dana ever wanted him in the UFC so badly. GSP would utterly annihilate him.
Shields is a much more boring fighter than Fitch. The only fighter who could give St. Pierre a real fight at Welterweight is Nick Diaz. With Kampmann, Fitch, Alvez and Shields in the mix, it doesn't make any sense for Koscheck to get the next shot.
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