Jon Fitch: Despite Rashad Evans' Advice, Fitch Should Stop Ducking Other Fights

"I want BJ or GSP [Georges St-Pierre]. Those are the only two guys I care or have any interest in right now. If I [have to] sit out a year and wait for them, I'll do it. That's what I'm waiting to fight for."

Jon Fitch spoke those words sometime after being approached by multiple outlets regarding a fight with Rick "The Horror" Story, who defeated Thiago Alves two weeks ago at UFC 130 and will face Nate "The Great" Marquardt on June 26 at the next UFC Live on Versus event.

Recently, B/R MMA Featured Columnist and consensus pound-for-pound king of MMA event graphics Nick Caron revealed that it was in fact UFC 133 headliner and former UFC Light Heavyweight Champion "Suga" Rashad Evans who planted the idea into his brain and told FItch that as a main event-level guy, he should be taking main event-level fights.

Fitch claims to be at the point in his career where the only guys he should be booked against the top level guys--although he did a good job of making it sound like the only guys he should be fighting are the dudes that have actually worn the belt before, as well as making heelish remarks that more-or-less demeaned the Mike Pierces, the Paulo Thiagos, and other non-contenders that he holds victories over.

In essence, he claimed that it didn't matter how conspicuous his victories were by his performances simply because nobody recognized the names he faced.

Au contraire, Mr. Fitch, it does matter.

Really speaking, Matt Hughes and Matt Serra are the only guys that, by Fitch's perceived logic, fit the mold as guys who have held belts before in the UFC.

Some would think a Nate Marquardt, a Dan Hardy, or even a guy like Rick Story might qualify for a future Fitch opponent because the former two have fought for belts, while Story beat a well-conditioned Alves, but apparently that is not the case, and that is unfortunate, because Fitch might get a crack at Penn or St-Pierre if he'd just stop ducking those supposed "no-name" Welterweights.

Whether Fitch likes it or not, he can't just call out the champ or his nemesis and expect Dana to say "this guy is one of the most exciting fighters in the world", especially considering his post-GSP-fight performances, which were mostly not that exciting, save for the UFC 117 rematch with Alves and the UFC 127 bout with Penn.

Now if he wants Penn to settle the draw, then I understand, but if he's going to call out Penn and St-Pierre, yet choose to not prove his worth and actually back up his talk against guys who want their own crack at St-Pierre, then Fitch doesn't deserve a rematch just yet.

You can say GSP brought out the pound-for-pound best Fitch in the world until the cows come home, but if you're not willing to toss a few up-and-comers to the back of the line to keep your "spot", then you shouldn't get GSP until you finally decide to actually make like a fighter and actually fight.

Besides, that advice was from a guy who sat out for over a year, got injured, and has been throwing a fit since March just because he injured himself and had to watch his boy win a belt from Mauricio Rua.

If Jon Fitch wants us to buy the whole I want a rematch with GSP" schtick again, it's real simple what he has to do.

He has to not wait for Dana to say, "Okay fine, you can have GSP," or "Okay fine, you can have Penn."

If he wants the crack at the belt so badly, he needs to sign a contract, stand across the cage from someone that could be tough to put down in under fifteen minutes, and convincingly defeat that man, regardless of whether or not he deserves to be in the cage with Fitch.

Better is Fitch when he's actively competing against his contenders than when he's "running scared," as it seems, but is Fitch scared?

If he's not scared of losing his potential title crack, he's certainly not acting like it by ducking the competition..