Erick Silva
Born	Erick Silva (1984-06-21) June 21, 1984 (age 28) Vila Velha, Espirito Santo, Brazil
Other names	Índio ("Indian")
Nationality	Brazilian
Height	5 ft 11 in (1.80 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st)
Division	Welterweight Middleweight
Reach	73 in (190 cm)
Style	Muay Thai, Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu, Judo
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	Vila Velha, Espirito Santo, Brazil
Team	Team Nogueira, X-Gym, Pro Fight
Rank	black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu black belt in Judo
Years active	2005-present
Mixed martial arts record
Total	16
Wins	13
By knockout	3
By submission	7
By decision	3
Losses	2
By knockout	0
By submission	0
By decision	1
By disqualification	1
No contests	1
Other information
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog

Erick Silva (born June 21, 1984) is a Brazilian professional mixed martial artist who competes in the welterweight division. A professional MMA competitor since 2005, Silva has spent the majority of his career in Brazil, mostly notably for Jungle Fight where he was the inaugural Welterweight champion.

Mixed martial arts career[link]

Background and early career[link]

Silva comes from Vila Velha, Brazil and was an X-Gym training partner for the likes of Anderson Silva, Rafael Feijao and Jacare Souza.^[1] He also trains with Team Nogueira and Pro Fight.^[2]

Jungle Fight Championship[link]

Silva joined Jungle Fight, appearing at Jungle Fight 9 against Carlos Eduardo dos Santos. In the third and final round, Silva defeated dos Santos via rear naked choke.^[3]

At Jungle Fight 11, he defeated Igor Fernandes via unanimous decision.^[4] Silva followed that up with two further victories in the promotion.^[2]

Silva then competed in one of the more unique fights in his career, at Jungle Fight 17, which was held outdoors. On the day of the event, the weather was clear throughout, until less than an hour before the start, when rain began to fall and never stopped.^[5] The event, which went down as one of the wettest in MMA history^[5] was not a successful one for Silva who hit his downed opponent with a knee, resulting in a no contest verdict.^[5]

Silva won his next fight, at Jungle Fight 21, via TKO (knee and punches) in the second round.^[6]

Silva then entered into the tournament for the inaugural Jungle Fight Welterweight Championship at Jungle Fight 23. In front of the likes of Lyoto Machida, Pedro Rizzo and Glover Teixeira, Silva defeated both opponents on the same night to win the tournament.^[1] His opening round matchup was against Gil de Freitas. The opening round saw Silva utilise his striking game to take the first round, though de Freitas came back strongly in the second round with his takedowns and effective ground game. In the final round, Silva caught de Freitas with a roundhouse kick to the liver, dropping him. After Silva used ground-and-pound to set up a guillotine choke, de Freitas was forced to tapout.^[1]

Silva progressed to the tournament final, where he faced the Mexican, Francisco Ayon. Ayon had just come off a split decision victory in the semi-final and he wasn't able to mount any offense against Silva, who took him down. After hitting him with several punches, Silva locked in an arm triangle choke to force the tapout with just 67 seconds on the clock.^[1] Silva therefore became the inaugural Jungle Fight Welterweight champion.^[1]

Ultimate Fighting Championship[link]

Silva signed with the UFC in early 2011. He was expected to make his debut against Mike Swick at UFC 134. However, on August 4, 2011, it was announced that Swick had to withdraw from the bout due to a knee injury and was replaced by Luis "Beição" Ramos. Silva won via first round TKO.^[7]

Silva was expected to face promotional newcomer Siyar Bahadurzada on January 14, 2012 at UFC 142.^[8] However, Bahadurzada was forced out of the bout with an injury and replaced by Carlo Prater.^[9] Silva originally looking to have won the fight, however, he was disqualified for strikes to the back of the head.^[10]

Silva is expected to face Charlie Brenneman on June 8, 2012 at UFC on FX 3.^[11]

Mixed martial arts record[link]

^[2]

See also[link]

• List of current mixed martial arts champions

References[link]

External links[link]

• Professional MMA record for Erick Silva from Sherdog

Jon Fitch
Born	Jonathan Parker Fitch (1978-02-24) February 24, 1978 (age 34) Fort Wayne, Indiana, United States
Nationality	American
Height	6 ft 0 in (1.83 m)
Weight	170 lb (77 kg; 12 st 2 lb)
Division	Welterweight Middleweight Light Heavyweight
Reach	74 in (188 cm)
Stance	Orthodox
Fighting out of	San Jose, California
Team	American Kickboxing Academy
Rank	Black belt in Guerrilla Jiu Jitsu
Wrestling	NCAA Division I Wrestling
Years active	2002 – present (MMA)
Mixed martial arts record
Total	29
Wins	23
By knockout	5
By submission	5
By decision	13
Losses	4
By knockout	2
By submission	1
By decision	1
Draws	1
No contests	1
Amateur career
Total	2
Wins	2
By submission	2
Other information
University	Purdue University
Notable school(s)	Carroll High School
Website	Official UFC Profile http://www.fitchfighter.com/
Mixed martial arts record from Sherdog
last updated on: March 7, 2012

Jonathan Parker Fitch^[1] (born February 24, 1978) is an American mixed martial artist currently competing as a welterweight in the UFC. As of May 2012, Fitch is ranked as the #5 welterweight fighter in the world by Sherdog.^[2]

Background[link]

After graduating from Carroll High School (Fort Wayne, Indiana), Fitch enrolled in at Purdue University in 1997 and graduated in 2002 with a Bachelor's in Physical Education and a minor in History. As a walk-on to the Purdue wrestling team, Fitch – a four-year letterman – wrestled under the tutelage of Tom Erikson and eventually became the team captain of his wrestling squad. Fitch secured a starting spot early on in his career, but struggled to find initial success. Compiling an 8-23 record his sophomore season, Fitch impressively turned that around to compile an 18-12 record in his final year. He finished with a 45-51 record overall for his collegiate wrestling career.

Tom Erikson– a former PRIDE fighter – would occasionally bring other mixed martial artists to the wrestling gym, and Fitch would be introduced to such fighters as Mark Coleman and Gary Goodridge. The sport, and the money that the top-tier fighters were making interested Fitch, and he started his mixed martial arts career in 2002.

Mixed martial arts career[link]

Jon Fitch began his career at Light-Heavyweight with a record of four wins, two losses and one No Contest. Understanding that the sport required cross training in the martial arts, Fitch soon left for San Jose, California to train with the American Kickboxing Academy.

In his next seven fights, Fitch amassed wins over fighters such as Shonie Carter, Alex Serdyukov and Jeff Joslin. After failing to make the selection process for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter – a last-minute decision by the production team that left Fitch stranded in an airport with his luggage already boarded – he earned a shot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 3, 2005, where Fitch defeated Brock Larson in a middleweight fight.

Drop to welterweight[link]

Soon after, Fitch dropped to the welterweight division and won his next six fights. With victories over Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Luigi Fioravanti and Diego Sanchez, Fitch was now seen as a welterweight contender. At UFC 82, Fitch defeated Chris Wilson by unanimous decision. This marked his 8th consecutive victory in the UFC, tying the record set by Royce Gracie for most consecutive wins in the UFC.^[3] UFC President Dana White praised Fitch's performances inside the Octagon, and indicated that Fitch would fight the winner of the Georges St-Pierre vs. Matt Serra Welterweight title fight.^[4]

Championship fight[link]

Fitch was defeated by Georges St-Pierre via unanimous decision with scores of 50–43, 50–44, 50–44 at UFC 87.^[5] After the fight GSP spoke to Fitch about the growth that his own loss prompted and said that Fitch's experience should be no different. Had Fitch beaten St-Pierre he would have had a nine fight winning streak in the UFC, surpassing Royce Gracie's streak of eight straight wins (a record that has since been broken by Anderson Silva, currently on fourteen as of August 2011). The loss also snapped Fitch's 16 fight winning streak, both in and out of the UFC.

Back to title contention[link]

Fitch was released from the UFC on the 20 November 2008.^[6] The dispute was over his reluctance to sign a lifetime contract to allow his name and likeness to be used in a video game the UFC released with THQ.^[7][8] In the end, Fitch ended up signing a licensing agreement that will allow the UFC to feature him in their UFC Undisputed video game release and returned to the UFC.^[9][10] Fitch's exile from the UFC lasted less than 24 hours.^[11]

Fitch dominated Pride Fighting Championships veteran Akihiro Gono en-route to a convincing unanimous decision scored 30–27, 30–27 and 30–26 at UFC 94.^[12] Fitch defeated Paulo Thiago by unanimous decision at UFC 100.

Fitch was expected to fight Ricardo Almeida on November 21, 2009, at UFC 106 but due to a knee injury sustained by Almeida, the fight was cancelled.^[13] Fitch was then scheduled to face Thiago Alves on December 12, 2009 at UFC 107 in a highly anticipated rematch.^[14] However, Alves suffered an injury and was forced off the card. Mike Pierce stepped in to fight Fitch instead. Fitch later defeated Pierce via unanimous decision (29-28, 29-28, 29-28).^[15]

Fitch was expected to finally face Thiago Alves on March 27, 2010 at UFC 111: St.Pierre vs. Hardy,^[16] but on March 25, 2010, Alves was forced off the card due to a brain irregularity that appeared on a pre fight CAT scan. Jon Fitch replaced Jake Ellenberger on the card and face Muay Thai fighter Ben Saunders.^[17] He won the fight via unanimous decision.

The Alves/Fitch rematch, originally slated for UFC 107 and UFC 111 was moved to UFC 115.^[18] Once again the fight was moved until, finally, it took place at UFC 117.^[19] This fight was confirmed to be the number one contendership for the welterweight championship (to fight the winner of the St-Pierre/Koscheck bout). Alves again failed to make weight, weighing in at 171.5 lbs, meaning he had to give up 20% of his fight purse. Fitch went on to defeat Alves via unanimous decision.^[20] Dana White later made remarks that the manner of Fitch's victories (primarily judges' decisions rather than finishes) and lack of connection with the UFC fans has put Fitch's number one contender status in doubt.^[21] Following Jake Shields' victory over Martin Kampmann at UFC 121, White confirmed Shields as the next in line for the Welterweight title shot, leaving Fitch's status in the division unconfirmed.^[22]

Fitch was expected to face Jake Ellenberger on February 5, 2011 at UFC 126.^[23] But after B.J. Penn defeated Matt Hughes at UFC 123, UFC president Dana White decided to match Fitch up against Penn at UFC 127 in Australia instead.^[24]

On February 27, 2011, Fitch fought BJ Penn in UFC 127. At the end of the fight the scorecards of the judges were 29-28 for Fitch, 28-28 and 28-28. It was declared a Majority Draw. When asked by Joe Rogan if Fitch would like a rematch, Fitch replied that he wants another title shot more than anything. No confirmation of a rematch resulted from the interview of either fighter.

A rematch with Penn was expected to take place on July 2, 2011 at UFC 132.,^[25] but in late March, Fitch pulled out of the bout with an injury.^[26]

After months of dealing with a shoulder injury, Jon Fitch is back in business. “I’m back! Dr. Kavitne gave me the ok to fight,” he tweeted. Fitch has made no small secret of his desire to fight on the UFC 139 fight card that takes place in his city of residence, San Jose, Calif.^[27]

Fitch fought Johny Hendricks on December 30, 2011 at UFC 141. He was knocked out 12 seconds into the fight.^[28]

Fitch is expected to face Aaron Simpson on July 11, 2012 at UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs. Weidman.^[29]

Personal life[link]

Jon and his longtime girlfriend Michele got engaged the day after UFC 100.^[30] The couple were married on September 4, 2010.^[31]

Jon Fitch appeared on the November 5, 2008 episode of MythBusters, "Coffin Punch". The MythBusters were attempting to determine if someone could punch their way out of a coffin. For his part, Jon Fitch laid on his back and punched up into a sensor, attached to a punching bag that was a few inches above Fitch, allowing his arm only three inches of travel before contact with the sensor. The sensor read that the power behind Fitch's punch was just under 1,500 pounds of force (6672 N).^[32][33]

Championships and Accomplishments[link]

Mixed martial arts[link]

• Ultimate Fighting Championship
  • Fight of the Night (One time)
  • Fitch and Georges St-Pierre hold the record for the most number of wins by decision in the UFC. He has won 9 fights by way of decision.

Mixed martial arts record[link]

References[link]

External links[link]

• Official UFC Profile
• Homepage of Jon Fitch
• Professional MMA record for Jon Fitch from Sherdog
• Official Jon Fitch Facebook Fan Page
• Official Jon Fitch YouTube Videos
• Michele Cao Fitch Biography