Josh Burkman Says He Won’t Try To Leapfrog Jon Fitch To Title Shot

WSOF 9 will go down later tonight and has a pretty impressive line up planned for the fans; Rousimar Palhares will make his promotional debut with a title shot against Steve Carl, Marlon Moraes has a title tilt against Josh Rettinghouse at bantamweight and Yushin Okami will go against Svetlozar Savov on his first date.

Also on tap for the evening is former welterweight title challenger Josh Burkman who was submitted in one by the champion Carl at WSOF 6. Burkman is probably more well known for his first round submission win over former UFC title challenger Jon Fitch at WSOF 3. ‘The Peoples Champion’ stopped by with MMAJunkie.com to discuss his recent loss against Carl:

“I just had an off night. I just had some things that didn’t work out,” he said. “My (weight) cut was a little different. Usually after I cut weight, I get up to around 185 pounds for fight night – and I fought at 173 pounds. I don’t know what happened. I just had a bad night.”

The fourth round loss by triangle choke against Carl last October was the first time Burkman has tasted defeat since a 2011 bout against Jordan Mein, and he will look to get back on track tonuight against Strikeforce/Bellator veteran Tyler Stinson. Burkman then discussed UFC cast-away Jon Fitch:

“I think Fitch deserves a shot, and I’m not going to try to leapfrog him, either,” Burkman recently told MMAjunkie Radio. “I think a win over Stinson just shows that I slipped up a little bit against Steve Carl, which is all that happened and I expect to go out and have a really good performance against Stinson.”

“But I’m going to wait back. I want to watch the fight between Carl and Fitch, if that’s the one that happens. He’s next in line, and he deserves it.”

Fitch has bounced back from his loss against Burkman by decisioning Marcelo Alfaya at WSOF 6, showing much improved stand up skills. It looks like he will get the winner of Carl/Palhares and Burkman will likely get the eventual second crack at the title if he can take out ‘The Evolution’ tonight.

“(Stinson) comes forward, he likes to fight, and I think it’ll make a really exciting fight to watch,” Burkman said. “I’m going to go in and try to knock him out.”

Keep an eye on World Series Of Fighting, as they could make up some ground on the UFC with tonight’s event. Their growing roster includes some legitimate talent, and WSOF 9 stands to be their best event to date, at least on paper.