Jon Fitch: 'If Koscheck is Able to Win the Belt and Defend the Belt, I Will Move Up to MW

Sportsnet's "Showdown" Joe Ferraro sat down with Jon Fitch this past weekend in Vancouver and, among other topics, spoke with the American Kickboxing Academy fighter about the UFC's welterweight landscape and his teammate, Josh Koscheck's year-end showdown with 170-pound champion. Georges St-Pierre.

Not surprisingly, Fitch is picking Kos to beat GSP, and says that if it happens and Josh successfully defends his belt, he'll move up to middleweight indefinitely.

"The first fight, Koscheck lost the fight to a takedown. He won the first round, lost the second round and in the third he shoots a single, switches of to a double and Georges is able to defend it and sprawl and Josh has to pull guard," Fitch said. "That was the deciding factor in that fight, so it will be interesting to see where this fight goes now. I don't know if will be as much of a wrestling match as it was the first time. There might be a lot more striking involved. It's a tough fight and its an interesting fight, but I think Koscheck's gonna win it."

"To me there's no reason to fight a teammate. It's just not a fight we're interested in at all," Fitch explained. "It's a situation where, if Koscheck is able to win the belt and defend the belt, I will move up to 185. I think I have a good size frame. I can put on 15 pounds. I may have to take a month off or so to put on some weight, but that process may take over a year from now. I'll have fought every welterweight worth fighting by then."

I think it's a pretty safe bet that Fitch won't be going anywhere and it sounds like he isn't 100 percent convinced he'll need to jump up in weight either.

"[If Georges wins] I'll be waiting on the front doorsteps with flowers [for a title shot]."

http://www.cagepotato.com/jon-fitch-if-koscheck-able-win-belt-and-defend-belt-i-will-move-185

I give Kos a good chance to win the belt. GSP will obviously be the favourite going in, but Kos has superior wrestling and he's rededicated himself to his wrestling which he wasn't doing the last time they fought. I think they'll cancel each other out in the takedowns and then it comes to striking. GSP is the better striker overall but Kos has decent boxing and hits a lot harder than GSP. GSP has lost his finishing skills so i think it's a 25 minute fight and Kos is the one fighter in the UFC with cardio that's as good as, if not better than GSP.

I'd hate to see Fitch at 185 though. Imagine him vs Sonnen. Most boring fight ever?

Actually i would much rather see the likes of Sonnen/Fitch/Shields against each other. Their boring fights is when they fight guys with terrible ground games which they can control without breaking sweat.

But if they fought against each other, we might see some sloppy standup and a few chins exposed


Give me Fitch-Shields over Fitch-Daley any day of the week.

A trio of Fitch-Shields-Sonnen fighting each other once

or Daley-Alves-Diaz fighting each other.

Which would you prefer?

Not what i mean. I would rather see the likes of Fitch and Shields face each other rather than see them fight Hardy/Daley for example.

I'd rather see them against Daley or Hardy because there's at least some chance of a KO rather than knowing it's going to be a decision at the very start.

Kos does have a decent chance but I do think we will see a big improvement in GSP's striking this fight. I've heard reports of him really working on his Muay Thai and kickboxing and with 6 months to train I think GSP will have enough striking quailty to get the better of Kos standing up. I think GSP can still take Kos down because he has the much better takedowns and I don't know if Kos can. GSP has excellent takedown defence.

Most boring fight in the world for me would be Lindland vs Okami/Sonnen.

Kos has better takedowns. He just needs to remember to use them. Kos is a better wrestler than GSP. GSP will need to beat him in the stand-up and avoid Kos's righthand.

Kos is a better overall wrestler but he does not have beter takedowns, not even close. Beside the fact that GSP easily took Kos down in there fight and Kos didn't look at there fights with Alves. GSP took Alves down with ease, Kos couldn't.

At this momment GSP has the best takedowns in the sport.

No, he doesn't.

Kos hadn't trained wrestling in a long time when he fought GSP and Alves. Now he's rededicated himself.

There are a number of people with better takedowns than GSP. Davis, Kos, Mo, Evans and Ben Askren off the top of my head.

GSP has never trained wrestling before. You don't have to be a good wrestler to have good takedowns.

GSP's takedowns are superior to Koscheck.

Davis still has a lot to prove. First of all he missed a few takedowns against Gustaffson. Secondly, he actually has to takedown someone relevent down in the division. When he takes Bader, Jones, Machida (anyone with good takedown defence in the division) then he can be classified as having better TD defence than GSP. Exactly the same with Evans and Arksen. Evans struggled to take Ortiz & Liddell down at times and GSP always takes Evans down in training. P4P GSP has better takedowns than Evans.

At the momment the one who comes close is Jones, he took Vera who has excellent takedown defence, down with ease and Hammil who is a very good wrestler. But again he still has to take down more top guys to show it.

Velasquez potentiolly could but I need to see him against the likes of Lesnar and Carwin or any othertop wrestler.

Machida actually has quite good takedowns as well, he took Ortiz down easier than Evans could manage but he never really uses his takedowns that much.

ChelseaQuinsfan wrote:GSP has never trained wrestling before. You don't have to be a good wrestler to have good takedowns.

GSP's takedowns are superior to Koscheck.

Davis still has a lot to prove. First of all he missed a few takedowns against Gustaffson. Secondly, he actually has to takedown someone relevent down in the division. When he takes Bader, Jones, Machida (anyone with good takedown defence in the division) then he can be classified as having better TD defence than GSP. Exactly the same with Evans and Arksen. Evans struggled to take Ortiz & Liddell down at times and GSP always takes Evans down in training. P4P GSP has better takedowns than Evans.

At the momment the one who comes close is Jones, he took Vera who has excellent takedown defence, down with ease and Hammil who is a very good wrestler. But again he still has to take down more top guys to show it.

Velasquez potentiolly could but I need to see him against the likes of Lesnar and Carwin or any othertop wrestler.

Machida actually has quite good takedowns as well, he took Ortiz down easier than Evans could manage but he never really uses his takedowns that much.

Nonsense from start to finish.

He's been training wrestling for years, not competing doesn't mean he's not been training.

Kos's takedowns are much better.

Evans, Davis and Askren are all far better wrestlers WITH BETTER TAKEDOWNS than GSP. Who cares if GSP takes Evans down in training? Proves nothing. Evans puts GSP on his ass everytime they train together. Nate Marquadt takes Shane Carwin down, proves nothing.

Jones isn't on the same level as the 3 i mentioned above.

Again, Mo is clearly superior as well.

I can already tell this going to be one of our long drawn out arguments that will get us nowhere so im going to quit while im ahead and agree to disagree on this one. I hope I don't get into another argument about there takedowns till after they fight.

There's nothing to discuss. There are many wrestlers in MMA with better takedowns than GSP.

Whoever has the better takedown DEFENCE will win the Kos-GSP fight. Not the person with the best takedowns.

Anfield i'm going to have to pop up an show some support for chelseaquinn here.....

GSP is by far the best wrestler in the WW diviwion.

GSP takes people down at will and therefore does not get the credit he desereves for this part of his game. Anyone who can take down BJ so often and easily must have some serious wrestling skills. The thing alot of people forget (and chose to forget) about GSP is that he is so well rounded that alot of fighters cant handle his stand up and wreslting skills.

Thats why he is the best at takedowns coz his opponents dont know what they're meant to be defending against the shoot or the jab or a superman punch!!!

He gets far too much credit for his wrestling skills. They are very good but not Koscheck level. Kos and Askren are the best wrestlers at 170. Both have better takedowns that GSP. GSP probably has better takedown DEFENCE than Kos because he used to be a stand-up fighter before he became a dryhumper and he had a great sprawl. Since he became afraid to stand and fight he's developed his takedowns, but they're not the best in the sport, or the WW division.

BJ didn't train properly for that fight and the reason GSP took him down so easily is that he weighed 185 or so coming into the cage, BJ weighed about 165. He was just bigger and stronger than Penn. Simple as.