Perennial UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch (23-3-1, 1NC) will have to undergo surgery for his shoulder and will be out four to six months. Fitch originally injured the shoulder in his No. 1 contender bout with BJ Penn last February at UFC 127.
Fitch posted the news on his Twitter page (@fitchfighter) on Tuesday.
He had been scheduled to rematch Penn after the two fought to a Majority Draw at the Australian event, but injuries to both fighters pushed the bout off the upcoming UFC 132 event. Fitch announced his injury first, and Penn took the opportunity to have his shoulder looked at after aggravating it further at UFC 127. Penn stated that he’d be out for four to six weeks, and would be ready to start training then, which could mean a new opponent for the Hawaiian rather than a rematch with Fitch.
Fitch spoke to MMAjunkie.com and provided more details on the injury.
“I’m going to have to get the labrum worked on, and I also have a tear of one of the rotator cuff muscles that’s going to need to be repaired, too. It’s functional, I can move around and do stuff with it. I could probably even fight with it. But going through a camp and going through six-hour days of workouts, eventually it’s going to break down. I don’t think I would get through a full fight camp without it breaking down completely.”