The World Series of Fighting seem to be having a little trouble keeping their main stars active lately. After Jake Shields backed out of a scheduled bout with Jon Fitch, the promotion set up a welterweight title bout between J-Fit and the new champion Rousimar Palhares. ‘Toquinho’ swiftly backed out of his first title defense against Fitch, citing personal reasons.
In stepped Josh Burkman to complete the trilogy against Fitch, but now news has emerged that he is being forced from the bout due to an elbow injury, and WSOF are actively seeking a replacement just over three weeks out from their eleventh event. So three potential opponents, all ex-UFC fighters, have backed out of their responsibilities against J-Fit. Well, it can’t be anywhere near as bad as the latest fiasco surrounding UFC 175, but it sucks for WSOF and Fitch nonetheless.
‘Proof’ of ‘The People’s Champion’ being injured was recently posted to his Twitter feed:
I’m out of #WSOF11 vs @jonfitchdotnet Hyperextended elbow. Ligament damage and bone bruise. 4 -6 week vacation and I’ll back. #Burkman
— Joshua Burkman (@JoshBurkman) June 11, 2014
So who else is there for Fitch to fight, or will he be forced off the card, likely serving a huge blow to the budding promotion? Well, news has also been floating around that recently freed up Jason High is looking for work, and the WSOF is interested. Formerly fighting at welterweight, High was cut after shoving the referee in his lightweight debut loss for the UFC against Rafael dos Anjos. Aside from (another) UFC cast-off in Jason High, who is yet to actually be signed to WSOF, who else is there for Fitch to fight?
