(Exclusive) "They threatened to fire all of my teammates" - Jon Fitch makes shocking revelations on how the UFC 'forced' him to re-sign with them
Jon Fitch recently made shocking revelations on what it was like dealing with the UFC during his tenure and how the promotion got him to re-sign.
During an exclusive interview with Sportskeeda MMA, the former UFC welterweight title challenger opened up about his experience with the promotion and shared details on the ongoing Class Action lawsuit against them. While reflecting on his tenure, he mentioned that the promotion threatened to take action against his teammates if he signed with Strikeforce.
He said:
"I refused to sign the video game agreement, so they cut me from the promotion. And they strong-armed me cause I wasn't gonna stay with them, I was gonna go to Strikeforce, so they threatened to fire all of my teammates if I didn't re-sign with them."
Jon Fitch brought up that he was against the video game agreement, which was for UFC 2009 Undisputed, and was put in an unfortunate situation. He mentioned that he didn't receive any salary increase or additional bonuses and felt like he was forced to re-sign in order to avoid costing his teammates their jobs, saying:
"They weren't gonna make any changes to the contract, so basically I had to re-sign with them under threat of my teammates being kicked out of the UFC and my management company not being represented in the UFC ever again, so they kind of held me under direst to force me to sign a contract."
Jon Fitch was a fixture in the top echelon of the UFC welterweight division, so it will be interesting to see if other top contenders shared a similar experience.
When did Jon Fitch retire from MMA?
Jon Fitch had a successful MMA career that began in 2002 and concluded in 2020. He fought a who's who of the sport, including UFC Hall of Famers Georges St-Pierre, Diego Sanchez, BJ Penn, and Rory MacDonald.
The former WSOF welterweight champion last competed at Bellator 246, where he was submitted via heel hook in the second round. He officially announced his retirement after the fight, ending his 18-year MMA career that saw him compete in major promotions like the UFC, WSOF, and Bellator.
