As the home of stars like Rory MacDonald, Douglas Lima, Andrey Koreshkov, Paul Daley, Lorenz Larkin, and Fernando Gonzales, Bellator’s welterweight division is arguably its best division outright. From the sounds of it, this stacked division could get a little bit better soon, as former World Series of Fighting welterweight champion and long-time UFC contender Jon Fitch claims he’s in talks with the promotion.
Fitch made this announcement on his official YouTube channel.
“As of [Friday], February 2nd, I am officially a free agent,” Fitch said in a video posted Saturday to his YouTube channel. “I’m in talks with [Bellator President] Scott Coker and Bellator right now – hopefully we’ll work something out by the end of this week.”
Jon Fitch is currently on an impressive, four-fight streak. This streak began with a decision defeat of long-time UFC middleweight contender Yushin Okami. Next, Fitch captured the WSOF welterweight strap with a decision defeat of João Zeferino, and defended it with a decision defeat of Jake Shields and a submission of Brian Foster. His last loss occurred in December of 2014, when he was submitted by polarizing leg lock specialist Rousimar Palhares. Fitch is now 30-7-1.
As a UFC fighter, Fitch went a solid 14-3-1, defeating names like Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves (twice), Akihiro Gono, Roan Carneiro, Diego Sanchez, Paulo Thiago, Mike Pierce, Ben Saunders and Erick Silva, losing to Georges St-Pierre, Johny Hendricks and Demian Maia, and battling our own BJ Penn to a draw.
Though he briefly hinted at retirement, it seems he’s put these plans on the back burner.
If Jon Fitch joins the Bellator MMA roster, who would you like to see him debut against? Join the conversation in the comments section!
This article first appeared on BJPenn.com on 2/5/2018.