Jon Fitch on "fair weather fans" and referees
Jon Fitch has faced plenty of adversity in his MMA career such as a 24 hour exile from the UFC following a contract disagreement, he built up an 8 fight win streak in the UFC before being beaten brutally by GSP at UFC 87 and most recently Fitch has taken criticism from some of the MMA community surrounding the issue of his recent performances. Fitch is 5-1 in his last five fights with all including the loss coming by way of decision. He feels that fans are too restless when fighters go to the ground and he had this to say:
“I view them as fair-weather fans. They aren’t MMA fans. They want to see K-1 kickboxing with small gloves and not MMA. I’m always working to finish fights. There are two guys in the fight and if the other guy is just trying to survive its hard to finish. Promoters and fighters are dumbing down the sport to appease those fans. Those fans won’t be there for the long haul and will turn their back on the sport as soon as they find the next best thing. I think [removed][removed] referees standing fighters up too soon is one of the dumbest things that has been done recently. They need to let the fighters work on the ground and not be so quick to bring the fighters back to their feet.”
I’m sure Fitch has a point as far as this matter is concerned but the only way he will silence the critics is by pulling out a great performance in his next fight, which happens to be against Thiago Alves at UFC 111.
