Jon Fitch will not be available to fight Matt Hughes
November 24, 2007 by Gary Herman
To put an end to a recent rumor, Jon Fitch will not be Matt Serra’s replacement to fight Matt Hughes on Dec. 29.
In fact, according to MMA Mania, Fitch stated that he will not even be in the United States:
“I’m not going to be in the country. I’ll be in Vietnam tending to some personal matters.”
As Adam noted below, I definitely agree that there is little possibility Hughes risks fighting on the Dec. 29 show. The fight with with Serra is potentially a huge money-maker for Hughes, and it is a shot to regain the welterweight title. The UFC would also be foolish to put him in with a top fighter like Thiago Alves and risk blowing another main event match-up. A lot of time and money (not to mention this season of The Ultimate Fighter) has gone into building Hughes-Serra. I can’t see Hughes fighting in the near future if it is not against Matt Serra for the welterweight title (unless Serra is out for an extended period of time).
I’m sure we will hear in the next couple of days how long Serra is expected to be out. If its 4+ months, Hughes will just have to move on and fight someone else. I just can’t imagine the UFC holding up the WW division for another 3 months or so.