UFC contender Jon Fitch says GSP, B.J. Penn are only fights that make sense

In 15 UFC outings, welterweight contender Jon Fitch has defeated all but two opponents.

Not surprisingly, Fitch (23-3-1 MMA, 13-1-1 UFC) feels those rematches – against current champion Georges St-Pierre (22-2 MMA, 16-2 UFC) and ex-titleholder B.J. Penn (16-7-2 MMA, 12-6-2 UFC) – are the only fights that make any sense for him.

Fitch discussed those bouts and his injury recovery on Friday's new edition of "Inside MMA" on HDNet.

Fitch, who will celebrate his six-year anniversary with the UFC later this year, has defeated some of the 170-pound division's top fighters, including Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez, Mike Pierce and Paulo Thiago. But a title loss to St-Pierre in 2008 and a recent majority draw with Penn at UFC 127 still irk him.

"There's really no other fight for me," he said. "I have no interest in any other fight. It's been a long road trying to get back to GSP. I think I've done more than enough to prove myself worthy, but I have unfinished business with B.J. also. Those are the only two fights for me. I want to get over this shoulder injury as soon as I can, and that's really what I'm looking for."

Fitch and Penn were slotted for a rematch at UFC 132 in July, but Fitch was forced off the card with a shoulder injury. Still wearing a post-surgery sling while on "Inside MMA," Fitch recently told MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com) about numerous issues to the joint.

"I'm going to have to get the labrum worked on, and I also have a tear of one of the rotator cuff muscles that's going to need to be repaired too," Fitch said back in April.

But the recovery may be shorter than expected.

"Originally, they were thinking six months until I got to start training hard, but once they got in there and started looking around, it turned out it was just a lot of scar tissue," he said. "The rotator-cuff muscles wasn't totally torn, so they didn't have to reattach it. That cut about two months off my recovery time. I should be fighting in December, easy."

As for St-Pierre and Penn, neither is booked for an upcoming fight. St-Pierre is rumored for a possible meeting with Strikeforce champ Nick Diaz – a fight UFC president Dana White said could be justified – and Penn opted to recover from his own injuries rather than compete at UFC 132.