He has competed in the Welterweight divisions of the Ultimate Fighting Championship (UFC), the Professional Fighters League (PFL), and most recently for Bellator MMA.
Fitch secured a starting spot early on in his career, but struggled to find initial success.
The sport, and the money that the high-level fighters were making interested Fitch, and he started his mixed martial arts career in 2002.
Jon Fitch began his career at light heavyweight with a record of four wins, two losses and one No Contest.
[2] In his next seven fights, Fitch fought at Middleweight and amassed wins over fighters such as Shonie Carter, Alex Serdyukov and Jeff Joslin.
After failing to make the selection process for the first season of The Ultimate Fighter – a last-minute decision by the production team that left Fitch stranded in an airport with his luggage already boarded – he earned a shot in the Ultimate Fighting Championship on October 3, 2005, where Fitch defeated Brock Larson by unanimous decision in a middleweight fight.
With victories over Josh Burkman, Thiago Alves, Luigi Fioravanti, Diego Sanchez, and Chris Wilson (tying the record set by Royce Gracie for most consecutive wins in the UFC), Fitch was seen as a top welterweight contender.
[6] The dispute was over his reluctance to sign a lifetime contract to allow his name and likeness to be used in a video game the UFC released with THQ.
[11] Fitch dominated Pride Fighting Championships veteran Akihiro Gono en route to a unanimous decision victory at UFC 94.
[13] Fitch was then scheduled to face Thiago Alves in a highly anticipated rematch on December 12, 2009 at UFC 107.
A rematch with Penn was expected to take place on July 2, 2011, at UFC 132.,[24] but in late March, Fitch pulled out of the bout with an injury.
Fitch was expected to face Aaron Simpson on July 11, 2012, at UFC on Fuel TV: Munoz vs.
[28] However, Fitch pulled out of the bout citing a knee injury and was replaced by returning veteran Kenny Robertson.
[29] Fitch defeated rising prospect Erick Silva via unanimous decision on October 13, 2012, at UFC 153,[30] with the back-and-forth bout receiving Fight of the Night honors.
In a prefight interview, Fitch mentioned that he was experiencing tremendous financial difficulties and that losing the fight would force him to end his full-time training so that he could get a day job to help support his family.
Despite spending most of the first round trapped in a body triangle defending against submission attempts, Fitch showed improved striking in a back-and-forth fight, dropping Alfaya and following up with heavy ground-and-pound in the third.
[42] After the fight, it was revealed that Fitch had failed the California State Athletic Commission's pre-fight drug testing.
[43] The positive test results of Fitch, who had previously been vocal in his criticism of PED users in MMA, were almost certainly due to synthetic testosterone.
[57] On December 16, 2014, Fitch was listed as one of three MMA fighters who filed a class-action lawsuit against Zuffa, LLC., the parent company of the UFC.
The suit alleges that the UFC participated in anti-competitive practices that hindered fighters and their mixed martial arts careers.
Fitch also made a brief cameo in the award-winning mixed martial arts documentary Fight Life sparring with Jake Shields.
[59] Fitch is the main subject of the movie Such Great Heights which documents his preparations to fight Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87.