Mike: Congrats on
the win over Gono... how do you think the fight went?
Fitch: Thank You. The fight went well. I was able to keep putting pressure
on him. I think I was doing good on the feet, and got a couple big takedowns,
but I just couldn’t finish him. He's been in a lot of fights, and has
only been finished like maybe 4 times in 5 years. That’s impressive,
especially when he was fighting guys even bigger for a lot of his career.
Mike: How did you start fighting in MMA?
Fitch: I was wrestling at Purdue, and my assistant coach Tom Erikson
was fighting in PRIDE at the time, and it seemed like a viable option
after my wrestling career was over.
Mike: How did you end up with AKA?
Fitch: Dewayne Zinkin was recruiting some wrestlers at the time. He
was actually an all American at Fresno State himself... but basically
he wanted to get some division 1 wrestlers and he contacted me through
Tom Erikson and invited me out to train for a week. I liked it and ended
up moving out there the next year.
Mike: Your next fight at UFC 100 is against Paulo
Thiago, who just came off of a win over your teammate Josh Koscheck.
What did you see in that fight that you can use in yours?
Fitch: I couldn’t get much from the fight really. It was over pretty
quickly. I know he is mostly a submission guy with most of his wins
coming from the ground… but I couldn’t get much from the fight... other
then maybe pressure him more early on.
Mike: How do you feel you match up with him?
Fitch: I think I match up with him very well... but I haven’t seen a
whole lot on him. I still need to do some homework and watch some video
and all that. On paper at least I think our ground games are pretty
comparable, but I think I am better on the feet and wrestling. He's
undefeated though and seems like he should be a tough guy.
Mike: How’s training going?
Fitch- We are in our 3rd week. I actually messed up on the calender
and started a week early, (he laughs) but that’s good. I have like 7
more weeks till the fight, but I feel good and am motivated after seeing
the fights this weekend. I am ready!
Mike: Do you have a prediction on this fight?
Fitch: No, just want to put pressure on him and finish him in the 2nd.
I look for some openings and try to take advantage of them.
Mike: What would you like to come next?
Fitch: Right now I am just concentrating on this fight, but I would
like to fight as much as possible this year. I know I am still a couple
fights away from being considered for another title shot. So I would
like to get maybe 4-5 fights in this year, and hopefully fight for the
title in early 2010.
Mike: You have fought both Thiago Alves and St.
Pierre, how do you think this fight will go down?
Fitch: It should be an entertaining fight... but I am pretty sure that
St.Pierre will win.
Mike: Which fight has been the most memorable
for you?
Fitch: GSP is probably the fight that sticks out to me the most. It
was for the title, and was the biggest war of my career so far.
Mike: Out of everyone you have fought/ sparred/trained
with etc... who has hit the hardest?
Fitch: The hardest? That would be (Phil) Baroni or Trevor Prangley,
they hit the hardest. But the best guy I have ever sparred with was
Machida!
Mike: If you could play matchmaker for a day,
what’s one fight you would love to set up and watch go down as a fan?
Fitch: Fedor (Emelianenko) and (Brock) Lesnar. Only because I doubt
it will ever happen. And Cung Le vs Anderson Silva would be good to.
Mike: If they made a movie about your life, who
would you want to play the role of Jon Fitch?
Fitch: I don’t even know, hey might need to have me play myself. People
have told me I look like that Josh Hartnett guy before though... so
maybe he could pull it off.
Mike: Cool man, anything you wanna add?
Fitch: Yeah there will be a documentary coming out in the fall, that
shows my training and leads up to the fight with GSP. And check out
www.mmainstructional.com you can purchase points to use towards online
lessons in wrestling/jiu-jitsu and more.
Mike: Thanks for your time Jon, and good luck!
Fitch: Thanks.
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