With the breaking news that welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre has suffered an ACL injury, focus immediately shifts to the two fighters that will be fighting for the interim welterweight championship belt.
Really, an interim title holds little meaning other than to serve as a physical representation of who the No. 1 contender is upon the champ’s return. Fighting for the belt are Nick Diaz and Carlos Condit. Both have been scheduled to fight GSP at one time or another.
Both guys are obviously benefiting from GSP’s injury, as both have a shot at winning a “title” without having to beat the most well-rounded fighter in MMA. Even so, both are deserving of a shot and are certainly high quality fighters, so the fight shouldn’t disappoint.
The real question is what happens after their fight? Diaz and Condit were clearly the top two contenders for the division’s title and both were waiting in line for their shot at the Canadian superstar.
Enter Jon Fitch.
Fitch, arguably the second best welterweight in the world, already had his shot at GSP and was beaten very soundly in a unanimous decision victory. However, this could be his shot at finally getting his rematch with GSP.
Ideally, the UFC could unofficially have a four-man tournament where the winner of Condit-Diaz would then put the interim belt on the line against the winner of a Josh Koscheck-Jon Fitch fight. However, Fitch and Koscheck are good friends and training partners and have said on numerous occasions they will not fight one another.
Fitch is 5-0-1 since his loss to St. Pierre.
The only problem is that, over the years, Dana White has developed quite the disdain for Fitch and his less-fan-friendly wrestling-heavy style, continually passing him over for title shots.
However, as a result of GSP’s injury, Fitch has a more clear road to a title shot than ever before. He needs to finish his next opponent convincingly (his last finish was in 2007, so this won’t be easy) before defeating either Diaz or Condit for the interim belt.
While Fitch is often labeled as boring, he is still a dominant fighter who deserves title consideration. It will be interesting to see how the welterweight division plays out while GSP is on the shelf. Maybe this is just what Fitch needs to light a fire and start finishing fights.
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