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Sunday, Jun 16, 2013

Opinion: What’s Next For Josh Burkman and Jon Fitch?

Josh Burkman (left) scored a huge upset win with his first round submission of Jon Fitch (right) at World Series of Fighting on Friday night. Photo credit: Lucas Noonan/World Series of Fighting

By Michael Hatamoto

It took MMA veteran Josh Burkman less than one minute to rock former UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch before putting him to sleep with a nasty guillotine choke.

Following the fight, Fitch admitted he was a bit too cocky regarding his submission defense, and said he didn’t try to fight the guillotine off fast enough. However, I imagine being rocked didn’t help his instinctive reflexes, with this being his first submission loss since July 2002.

The main event of the World Series of Fighting 3 fight card was supposed to play out with Fitch using his grinding top game to tire Burkman out and pick up a unanimous decision. Instead, Burkman shocked the MMA world with a fast, dominant win against the American Kickboxing Academy-trained wrestler and grappler.

I wonder if Fitch has any top-level performances left in his career, as he has lost three of his last four fights. To be fair, his last five fights were against Burkman, Demian Maia, Erick Silva, Johny Hendricks and BJ Penn – but his knockout loss to Hendricks, decision loss to Maia (after being outclassed, and his quick loss to Burkman has to be alarming.

What’s next for both fighters?

I think a fight between Fitch and Aaron Simpson could be appealing to MMA fans, especially with the WSOF still trying to build up its fight roster. The WSOF roster also has Tyson Steele, Gerald Harris, Jorge Santiago, and Gilbert Galvao, with the rest of the roster lacking enough MMA experience to probably compete with Fitch.

Meanwhile, Burkman has to be on the fast track to compete for the vacant WSOF welterweight title, so it will be telling to see who the WSOF matches him up with next.

posted by FCF Staff @ 5:57 pm
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