• UFC

Fitch wants Penn held back for his return

ESPN staff
April 21, 2011
Nothing could separate Jon Fitch and BJ Penn in their first fight © Getty Images
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Jon Fitch wants the UFC to hold BJ Penn back so that he can fight the Prodigy upon his return from shoulder surgery.

Fitch revealed via his Twitter account that he is about to have an operation on his shoulder, having exhausted all other options. The recovery period will keep him out for four-to-six months.

Penn is also currently injured, meaning both men had to pull out of UFC 132, on which they were supposed to rematch for the right to be named the UFC's No. 1 welterweight contender. The first fight ended in a draw, and Fitch sees little point in handing Penn a different opponent whilst he recovers from injury.

"It's the best fight for each of us," Fitch told MMAJunkie. "I think it would be dumb for either of us to take a fight with anybody else but each other before we settle it.

"Either me or BJ would love to just fight the winner of Jake [Shields] and [Georges St-Pierre]. But I think it's realistic that if Jake wins that fight, that there will be a rematch. And if GSP wins that fight, he only fights a couple times a year. So he'll probably take a break, and there will be time for [Penn and me] to fight.

"If GSP moves up to fight Anderson [Silva], there's still time for him to do that and me and BJ to fight."

© ESPN Sports Media Ltd.
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