Most people who have brothers and sisters have gotten into a tussle at least once while they were growing up. It’s considered a natural part of the dynamic between siblings. But to some UFC fighters, a bout against their “brother” isn’t in the picture.
Josh Koscheck and Jon Fitch are two guys who have made it adamantly clear they have no intention of fighting each other. “If there’s no one else for me to compete with at 170 other than Koscheck, I’m going to move up,” Fitch told MMA Weekly.
Given Fitch’s position at welterweight, there are very few fights for him outside of Koscheck. Fitch is widely considered the No. 2 welterweight in the world behind Georges St-Pierre, which presents a problem when matching him up against other fighters.
Previously, Fitch stated he only wanted to fight current or former champions (via ESPN.com). Besides attempting to pick and choose his fights, Fitch stated he was willing to wait for these main events and main event fighters.
However, in August of this year, Fitch changed his tune (via MMA Mania).
After being on the shelf for a long time due to injury, it seemed Fitch was unwilling to wait and would take on just about any fighter he could.
We’ve all seen how waiting can damage a fighter’s career, so it’s good Fitch realized the error of his ways, but he’s still back in the same limbo he was before.
Most of the fights that would serve Fitch’s career the best are already booked up. Anthony Johnson is set to square off against Vitor Belfort, Jake Shields and Yoshihiro Akiyama look ready to grace the Octagon and Nick Diaz is training for his title shot against GSP.
That leaves only Jake Ellenberger as a viable option due to the aforementioned fights and injuries to other fighters. And even Ellenberger has been strongly linked to a bout with Diego Sanchez once “The Dream” returns from hand surgery.
As you can see, the welterweight title picture is set to clear itself up in a few months, but the reluctance of guys to fight their training partners, like Fitch and Kos, only adds to the cloudy title picture.
Kos replied to criticism with the sarcastic humor that one would expect from him.
You guys really want to see us fight—Monday, Wednesday, Friday—come to AKA in San Jose (Calif.). You guys can stand up there, you can watch us fight and it will be for free. You don’t have to pay $54 for it (via MMA Weekly).
Sorry to quote The Joker, but “If you’re good at something never do it for free.”
It’s not like we are asking the two men to go out on national television and run a slander campaign against one another.
If teammates are fine with “fighting” each other three times a week to train, why can’t they do it one time in front of a crowd?
I understand it messes with the dynamic of team chemistry, and the lack of coaches would make the situation difficult, but not doing something you already do three times a week to mess with your career is just plain stupid.
Teammates can go into the Octagon, fight hard for 15 to 25 minutes and then go have a beer or a shot of wheat grass after.
Fans aren’t trying to tear up family-like relations or blow up camps, we just want to see the best fights possible. We’ve seen teammate vs. teammate matchups work out just fine before; it won’t be the end of the world.
It’s just a matter of going out there, doing what you are paid to do and collecting a paycheck—something Koscheck has said is his main motivation for fighting still, via MMA Mania. Well Mr. Koscheck, I can bet that even if you and Fitch had Thanksgiving dinner together, people would still buy the fight.
We’ve seen some fighters like Frank Mir say fighters shouldn’t train with guys in their weight class in the UFC (via MMA Torch). That’s certainly a good thinking method as there are options out there for guys to train with besides just UFC fighters.
If we continue to see the formation of MMA “Super Gyms” like Tri Star and Jackson’s MMA, where half a division trains under the same set of coaches, nobody will be moving up the ladder as they will all be sitting on the sidelines collecting debt.
It’s a shame that guys like Koscheck would be fine with not doing anything simply to avoid fighting a teammate (MMAweekly.com).
For someone who cares about money and big-name fights, that’s a lot of cash to walk away from.
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