Former number one UFC welterweight contender Jon Fitch was today handed his walking papers for refusing to sign an agreement that would give the promotion exclusive lifetime video game rights to his name and likeness, MMAmania.com can exclusively confirm.

Christian Wellisch — who also didn’t ink the paperwork — was also released. Others who do not sign the agreement could also be let go in the future.

Fitch and members of his camp were not immediately available for comment on the startling development.

While the full details are a little murky at this time, Fitch was apparently approached about the issue when he turned in his signed bout agreement to fight Akihiro Gono at UFC 94: “St. Pierre vs. Penn 2″ on January 31. And when he and his representatives attempted to negotiate the video game deal it was all or nothing.

He didn’t sign it and was terminated shortly therefafter.

Fitch — who is tied with Royce Gracie and Anderson Silva for the most consecutive wins in UFC history (eight) — recently lost a gutsy unanimous decision to welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” on August 9.

The former Purdue University wrestler just returned from a trip to Thailand to refine his Muay Thai and stand up skills. For the time being he may have to now put those skills to the test outside the Octagon for the first time since 2006.

He’s among the top 170-pound fighters in the world and should land on his feet sooner rather than later. Talk about a big loss for the UFC … and Jon Fitch.


And a lot more could soon be coming including Josh Koscheck. What a bunch of petty bull**** from the UFC.

Yeah, this is insane, Fitch is probably the second or third best fighter in the UFC 170lb division. Someone even posted on Sherdog that they have heard rumours Anderson Silva might be cut because of this too. Don't know how reliable that is, but it could make sense if Anderson is looking for a way to get his big boxing pay day against Roy Jones Jr.

Nope. Just AKA fighters.

Time for Affliction to start building their welterweight bracket!

This sucks. I don't blame him for not giving in to that. Exclusive, life time rights to his name? That's bull****.

Agents have been screwing up fighters this past year or so huh. who else is gonna put them in a video game :lol1: Elite xc nope dead, Dream nope not enough recognition 2 put out a game, Affliction nope gon b dead within a year.
AKA's Agent should jus drop dead an let the fighters get on with their fights, none of the other fighters have a problem with signin the deal 2 be in the video game all them chuck liddell, wanderlei, anderson silva, rampage an em signed the deal hell Royce Gracie may even b in the game so why does Fitch and the rest of AKA have a problem with it.
Agents like theirs jus F*ck fighters up in their deals an they end up gettin cut or held up in their fights.

Maybe because they'd like to keep their identity rights and be able to make money off them even if the UFC uses their likeness. And even if they don't make money, they'd still like to keep their identities.

Also, Bob Cook is a bit more competent then Dion.

some very petty **** by the ufc

fitch and koscheck belong in the ufc and they need as many viable bodies as they can get for their razor thin HW division. Cain is a prospect they should be trying to keep

seems its just AKA being all pissy about it, jus came from reading over at mmajunkie and ATT seems 2 b cool with the idea.

"All of our guys signed off on [on the exclusive videogame-rights agreement]," Lambert said. "I don't really think they were giving that much up, anyways. I didn't really see much of a demand for a videogame deal outside of the UFC. So I didn't think I was doing a disservice to my guys in recommending that they sign the deal. [The UFC] takes care of our guys in more ways than one. So, no problems on our end."

"There was a merchandise deal that got a little bit of press a while back," Lambert said. "And basically when I read the merchandising agreement that they had asked guys to sign in the past, it was a non-exclusive merchandise deal whereby [UFC officials] were going to use their contacts and get merchandising deals for guys. And they were going to give a pretty generous percentage to the fighter on a non-exclusive basis.

"So if [the UFC] had a deal with XYZ distributor where they were going to sell a Thiago Alves shirt, they were going to pay Thiago a percentage of it. But if Thiago got his own deal with somebody else for a shirt deal, it didn't exclude him from doing so. I thought that was a good deal for the fighters as well."


"I didn't think it was really giving up that much for the fighter given the other opportunities they get and the promotion that it would be for you to be on the game. I think it's going to help you anyway. So I think there may be some confusion out there if guys think the UFC was asking them to sign away their lives with respect to all merchandising. That's just a mistake. That's not what it said."

after reading those quotes i've come to the conclusion that Fitch's Agents an A$$hole who's jus screwing him and the rest of AKA out of the UFC.

haha fitch is back with the ufc already :lol1:
from mmajunkie.com

Just 24 hours after Jon Fitch was kicked out of the UFC and scratched from a scheduled UFC 94 bout with Akihiro Gono, the top welterweight contender is now back with the organization, according to MMARated.com.

Saying he no longer wanted to work with the American Kickboxing Academy or the fighter's management team at Zinkin Entertainment, UFC President Dana White said he dismissed Fitch, who initially refused to sign a deal that would give the UFC the exclusive right to use his likeness in an upcoming video game.

Fitch today agreed to sign the deal after speaking with UFC Chief Executive Officer Lorenzo Fertitta, according to the report.

The fighter, who said he was disappointed by White's strong-arm tactics in trying to get him to sign the agreement, is now again scheduled to fight Gono at the Jan. 31 event in Las Vegas.

Fitch initially told Yahoo! Sports he simply didn't understand the need to sign over his rights with a lifetime contract, particularly since it would not pay his family in the event of his death, and that White balked at his management team's willingness to compromise with a five- or 10-year deal.

"It was all or nothing," Fitch said. "[White] wanted our lifetime. He wanted our souls forever."

In addition to Fitch, White on Wednesday also said he dropped Christian Wellisch from the organization and that fellow UFC fighters Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez were also in jeopardy of being cut from the UFC. There's no word if those fighters now plan to sign the agreement, as well.

The videogame in question, "UFC 2009 Undisputed," which is set for a 2010 release, is being produced by THQ.

Fitch (17-3 MMA, 8-1 UFC), who is currently ranked a world top-five welterweight, most recently fought in August and dropped a unanimous decision to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. It was his first loss in nearly six years and snapped his record eight-fight win streak in the UFC.

Just Lorenzo cleaning up.