UFC: Jon Fitch Withdraws from UFC 132 Matchup with BJ Penn Due to Injury

MMAWeekly.com was the first to report that Jon Fitch will withdraw from his scheduled matchup at UFC 132 with B.J. Penn.  

Penn and Fitch fought to a draw at the main event of UFC 127 in February.  

Penn looked poised to win the fight after showing uncharacteristic wrestling skills in the first two rounds, but appeared to gas-out in the third round, as he was taken down early and then ground-and-pounded by Fitch for the remainder of the fight. 

The card still boasts decent star power with a bantamweight title fight scheduled to occur between Dominick Cruz and Urijah Faber, as well as a light heavyweight showdown between Ryan Bader and Tito Ortiz.  

However, this throws yet another question mark into the welterweight division.  

The winner here was expected to either be the No. 1 contender, or perhaps even the new champion, if current champion Georges St-Pierre beats Jake Shields at UFC 129 and elects to bump up and fight middleweight title holder Anderson Silva next.  

Fitch's only loss in the past eight years was against St-Pierre in August of 2008, while Penn lost to St-Pierre at both UFC 58 and UFC 94.  

For now, no replacement for Fitch has been announced, so whether or not B.J. Penn still fights on the card is in limbo.  

It is possible that the Hawaiian Brazilian-Jiu Jitsu specialist will fight the winner of Shields/St-Pierre for the title at UFC 132, but any talk for the time being is purely speculation. 

Penn moved back to welterweight after losing consecutive fights to Frankie Edgar at lightweight and, in all likelihood, will finish his prestigious MMA career in the 170-pound weight class.

UPDATE: Bloodyelbow.com is reporting that Fitch is out with a shoulder injury.