In just over a month former UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch (23-3, 1NC) will take on former UFC champion BJ Penn in Sydney, Australia. Both men will meet in the main event of the Feb. 27 UFC 127: Penn vs. Fitch event.
Fitch, who has won five straight since his loss to Georges St-Pierre, considers Penn to be one of his most dangerous opponents and feels he can’t give less than 100% of his attention to this fight unless he plans on losing.
The American Kickboxing Academy fighter spoke to Sports Illustrated about his upcoming fight and offered this opinion of Penn.
“B.J. is such a dangerous opponent. He’s a legend. He’s such a huge name in this sport. For me to give him anything less than 100 percent of my full focus and attention would be greatly detrimental to me winning this fight. So I have to just focus on him, and not worry about anything that’s been said in the past, or anything that’s been promised in the past…If I went out there and tried to match BJ’s timing, or match BJ’s speed, it would never happen. And a lot of guys fall into that trap. It’s more about setting your pace and dictating the action, dictating what’s going on in the fight. That way you’re not reacting to things, you’re making the faster guy react to you. If you’re good enough you can set traps, make them react the wrong way.”
Fitch’s last octagon appearance was last August when he beat Thiago Alves at the UFC 117 event by winning his fifth straight fight by unanimous decision. He’s won a total of 13 fights by decision, 5 by knockout and 5 by submission over his 27 fight career.