Jon Fitch Twitter: UFC Star Needs Shoulder Surgery, Will Miss 4-6 Months

More tough news for consensus No. 2 MMA welterweight, Jon Fitch, today as he revealed via Twitter that he will be going under the knife to repair his injured shoulder.

The American Kickboxing Academy fighter was forced to pull out of his scheduled rematch with BJ Penn earlier this month, citing the shoulder injury, but was originally optimistic that he would not miss a long period of time.

The rematch with Penn was almost immediately scheduled following the two men fighting to draw in the UFC 127 main event in Australia. But now it appears that the fight will be postponed for an even longer period of time.

Before meeting with his doctor on Tuesday, Fitch Tweeted the following:

@FitchFighter: This is the longest I've ever gone without training. Hope the doc has good news today.

But things didn’t go as well as he had hoped and just a few hours later, Fitch revealed the bad news.

@FitchFighter: Looks like I will be getting shoulder surgery next week. Not the news I was looking for.

When asked how much time he is expected to miss by a follower, Fitch replied:

@FitchFighter: 4 to 6 months.

The UFC star is known for his constant desire to work in the gym, so he will certainly be pushing to make it more around the four month range than the six month range.

Nevertheless, this is a frustrating setback for Fitch as he was perhaps a win over Penn away from another shot at UFC Welterweight Champion, Georges St-Pierre.