Jon Fitch, a former No. 1 welterweight contender who owns a share of the record for most consecutive wins in the Octagon, is reportedly out of the UFC after a dispute over the use of his name and likeness in video games.MMA Mania is reporting that Fitch was dismissed for refusing to sign an agreement that would give the UFC exclusive lifetime video game rights to his name and image. Another UFC fighter, Christian Wellisch, was also reportedly released for refusing to agree to such a deal.
Fitch's last fight was a loss to Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87. He was rumored to be fighting Akihiro Gono at UFC 94 in January, but that is apparently not the case anymore.
Before losing to St. Pierre, Fitch had won eight straight UFC fights, tying him with Royce Gracie and Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins in UFC history.
The UFC has not commented, and Fitch is still listed as an active fighter at UFC.com.
Reader Comments (Page 1 of 1)
11-20-2008 @ 1:40AM
Orange Chuck said...
Just heard Fitch say in a radio interview for Hardcore Sports on Sirius Satellite Radio that he believes Josh Koshek would be gone too if he wasn't contracted to headline the Troops card and thinks there are others who will be gone after their contracted fight is done for the same reasons. Apparently a rival video game company is wanting to also make an MMA game and UFC wants to rush this to get it done before they do and is essentially bullying fighters under their contract to sign a lifetime deal as you stated. Welcome to the world of UFC domination.
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11-20-2008 @ 7:37AM
panah100 said...
Fitch did himself no favor by going public with this. Now I don't see anyway back for him. I know Dana forgave Couture for the lawsuit and everything but Fitch is bringing some tough words that could damage the company's reputation. I think he may be out of the UFC for good. Not a big loss if UFC acquires Jake Shields and Robby.
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11-20-2008 @ 8:10AM
serge said...
Dana disgust me. No wonder Fedor doe snot want to sign with organization that treats its fighters this way.
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11-20-2008 @ 8:33AM
panah100 said...
Don't be so quick to make Dana the devil and Fedor a saint. Things are not like that in real life. We don't know the full story, and Fedor is anything but a saint here. He has dodged good competition for years, and Tim Sylvia wasn't exactly a bad match-up for him. Let's see how he does with Arlovski, if that fight ever happens, and then Barnett. Fedor has been fighting stiffs for millions for a long time now and he is calling out Brock? Please.
As far as Fitch, he was taken care of well. He got paid $170K for losing to GSP. I mean that's more than some of us make in 3-4 years. The whole fighters deserve more money thing is just a flawed logic. Programmers write websites that make millions but they only get thousands and their jobs get outsourced. It's a tough business, and believe me, you would do it if you were the President of a company like UFC.
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11-20-2008 @ 10:33AM
Brayan said...
It is exactly as Fitch puts it. The games appeal to ufcs matching fanbase is priority and they are bullying fighters to sign over a lifetime likeness of the fighters for the offer of....renewing contracts.
"Sign over rights to your trademark and in return you get to stay in the UFC"
Why does this in some weird and bazaar manner remind me of Enron....
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11-21-2008 @ 2:03PM
J.M. said...
I like to watch the UFC but I am much a bigger boxing fan . And not to get to far off track but I laugh when people claim boxing is dead. Oscar made $56 million for his fight with Mayweather while the UFC pays Randy only $250,000 for a heavyweight fight. No wonder the UFC can put good fights on the under card it is because they don't pay much to their fighters. Plus, the UFC will never be main stream or have an audience like boxing once did because all the good fights are on pay per view and not much of anythingh is on free TV. Oh, excuse me there is no such thing as free TV.
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11-21-2008 @ 3:07PM
Eric said...
The UFC has "UFC Fight Nights", "UFC Unleashed", "UFC wired", and "The Ultimate Fighter" all on cable.
Saying that Oscar "Fought" against Mayweather is a stretch ... the two of them sparred for 12 rounds, and tried not to mess up their makeup.