The second-best welterweight in MMA won again on Saturday night, but he didn't look paticularly impressive doing it, as Jon Fitch defeated Mike Pierce by unanimous decision at UFC 107.
Fitch got the better of the early going, taking Pierce down by catching a kick, quickly taking Pierce's back and coming close to sinking in a rear-naked choke. But Pierce did nice work getting out of the bad position, picking Fitch up and dropping him back down onto the canvas and bloodying Fitch's left eye with a punch. It was a close first round that I gave to Fitch, 10-9. In the second round, Fitch again took Pierce down by catching a kick and again took Pierce's back, but was again unable to get the rear-naked choke. Fitch controlled the round, but he didn't dominate, and he didn't do anything all that exciting.
By the third round the fans started to boo as the pace slowed down and both fighters got tired. In the final seconds Pierce started to pour it on and landed some good punches, and in my view won the round 10-9. All three judges scored it the same way I did, 29-28 for Fitch.
Fitch improved his professional MMA record to 21-3, including 11-1 in the UFC. Fitch's only loss inside the Octagon was to welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, but I think he needs to start dominating -- and not just winning 29-28 against mid-level opposition -- if he wants to earn another shot at the title.
Fitch got the better of the early going, taking Pierce down by catching a kick, quickly taking Pierce's back and coming close to sinking in a rear-naked choke. But Pierce did nice work getting out of the bad position, picking Fitch up and dropping him back down onto the canvas and bloodying Fitch's left eye with a punch. It was a close first round that I gave to Fitch, 10-9. In the second round, Fitch again took Pierce down by catching a kick and again took Pierce's back, but was again unable to get the rear-naked choke. Fitch controlled the round, but he didn't dominate, and he didn't do anything all that exciting.
By the third round the fans started to boo as the pace slowed down and both fighters got tired. In the final seconds Pierce started to pour it on and landed some good punches, and in my view won the round 10-9. All three judges scored it the same way I did, 29-28 for Fitch.
Fitch improved his professional MMA record to 21-3, including 11-1 in the UFC. Fitch's only loss inside the Octagon was to welterweight champion Georges St Pierre, but I think he needs to start dominating -- and not just winning 29-28 against mid-level opposition -- if he wants to earn another shot at the title.
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