UFC veteran and current World Series Of Fighting Welterweight Champion Jon Fitch is coming off of a successful title defense over Jake Shields at the WSOF 34. Fitch may not be stepping into the cage any longer, something he brought up after his title win.
“Yeah, it’s a possibility (retirement),” Fitch said on The MMA Hour. “It all depends on what comes back when I talk to the doctors. The other issue is that I’ve had spine and neck issues for a number of years and that’s been really bothering me too, so if I can’t remedy that that’s an issue that may push me towards retirement,” Fitch said. “It’s just too hard to go eight to 12 weeks when I keep having bulging disks flaring up, and my fingers and hands go numb, and I start losing considerable strength from atrophy is just something I can’t continue with. And if I do continue with it, it’s going to get worse and I’m going to have to get surgery or something, and then I’ll be restricted with what kind of movement I can do, and I want to be able to teach jiu-jitsu and wrestling and roll around with my kids in the future, so I kind of need that somehow figured out too.”
Fitch would also like to see some changes to MMA down the line.
“A big part of that is how much we can impact and change the sport through the MMAFA and the Muhammad Ali extension act because I don’t like how the sport operates right now,” Fitch said. “And it wouldn’t be fun for me, and I wouldn’t want to put my athletes, who I care about, into that kind of a meat grinder to be basically pimped out, while destroying their body to make somebody else rich. I wouldn’t be comfortable with that. So if I could help get the ground work started and build a framework so we have a legitimate sport with MMA, then I think I would be excited about the sport again, and I think I would want to take part in coaching and help other fighters out.”
Fitch is also a longtime UFC veteran and he has previously fought for the UFC Welterweight Title, losing to then champion Georges St. Pierre.
