Jonathan Parker Fitch or more popularly known as John Fitch, is an American professional mixed martial artist. At present, he competes at the Ultimate Fighting Championship and trains at the American Kickboxing Academy. This bachelor’s degree holder in Physical Education has a black belt in Guerilla Jiu-Jitsu, a fusion of Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and Judo. He combines this martial art along with wrestling and kickboxing in his fights.
Fitch hails from Fort Wayne, Indiana, where he was born in on February 24, 1978. He began wrestling after graduating in university. He became squad captain in the Indiana-based Purdue wrestling team under the coaching of Tom Erikson who was a former MMA fighter. After Erikson introduced him to some MMA fighters, he was attracted to MMA sport and the money the fighters earn.
Born | 24 Feb 1978 |
Nationality |
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Nickname | John |
After fully deciding to become a mixed martial artist, he finally debuted in July 2002. He lost in his first fight after Mike Pyle forced him to submission with a rear naked choke. Although he won his next two fights, he again lost for the second time before the year ended to Wilson Gouveia, who gave him his first and only KO loss.
Before Fitch debuted in July 2005 in UFC, he won his 8 previous fights. Since he became a UFC fighter, he was an undefeated fighter for almost three years, setting a high record of 8 consecutive wins against Brock Larson, Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Kuniyoshi Hironaka, Luigi Fioravanti, Roan Carneiro, Diego Sanchez and Chris Wilson. This record ties him with Royce Gracie in second for the UFC fighter with the most consecutive wins, following Anderson Silva with 10.
In his bid to win the UFC Welterweight belt in August 2008, he lost to UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre. Their bout, which resulted in a unanimous decision in favor of St. ierre, was also awarded Fight of the Night.
He had three matches in 2009, all of which he won via unanimous decisions. Special mention is his defeat of Paulo Thiago in July of that year as Fitch gave the latter his first and only loss so far in his 5-year old career.
Fitch has an MMA career record of 25 fights including 21 wins, 3 losses and 1 no contest.