Jon Fitch (L) lays a beating on Erick Silva at UFC 153 – Photo by Felipe Dana for AP.org
Welterweight Jon Fitch (24-4-1, 1NC) came into his last fight hoping for a win and a “Fight of the Night” bonus, needing the money to pay for bills as the fighter has come on hard financial times.
Fitch faced the highly touted Erick Silva at UFC 153 just a couple of weekends ago, earning a unanimous decision over the Brazilian as well as an extra $70,000 for the “FON” bonus.
The financial windfall represented a big relief for the fighter who is stuck with two mortgages in a devastated housing market.
During an interview on the SiriusXM Fight Club on Monday, Fitch talked about his financial issues describing the last two years of his life as a “major pain in the ass.”
A major pain in the ass, cause nothing was ever on the level of disaster you know, but it was borderline like. We were sitting on the edge of being in an unrecoverable position for months and months. Very strangling, very taxing position to have to go through. My wife was pregnant for part of it and we had a small child for part of it. A big headache. Nothing that completely to take the rug out from under us, but grief here and there, and not bringing in the money, and me being bad, put a lot of stress on the situation.
Fitch was asked to explain just how he was put into this situation, especially as a professional athlete making the type of money that he does.
Well a lot of it was because I was feeling in a good position before the BJ Penn fight and I bought a second home. The market crashed so bad on the condo that it became impossible to sell or I’d lose my ass and everything I invested into it. Mostly having to pay two mortgages and living in California is expensive. New house and a baby, delivering a baby is not a cheap thing even with good insurance. It’s the little things here and there. Like you said if your not fighting making money, your not making money, your not getting paid.
Fitch is now 1-1-1 in his last three bouts, suffering a 12-second knockout loss to Johny Hendricks last December at UFC 141, and fighting BJ Penn to a majority draw at UFC 127 in Australia in February 2011.
If the former contender can fight like he did in Brazil in the future, he shouldn’t have to worry too much about money but only time will tell.