Emotional Jon Fitch: I couldn't live with father not being around to see world title

LAS VEGAS – Approaching 14 years in professional fighting, veteran welterweight Jon Fitch had much on the line Saturday night in the WSOF 30 co-main event.

A win would give him, at long last, his first major MMA title nearly eight years after fighting for a belt in the UFC against the great Georges St-Pierre. Against Joao Zeferino, the fight wasn’t really close. Fitch dominated for a trio of 50-45 scores to take home WSOF’s vacant welterweight strap.

After his win over Zeferino (20-8), Fitch (28-7-1) got emotional when he recalled how he had questioned whether or not his father would live to see him hold a major title.

“It feels great. I can’t express how sad I am and how happy I am to reach an achievement like this,” Fitch told MMAjunkie. “A lot of people have sacrificed a lot in order for me to be here and I kind of wanted to win the belt for them – especially my father. I almost lost him a couple months ago – he had a heart attack and had quadruple bypass surgery. It just weighed heavy on me that he may die before I was a world champion.

“Everything my family has done for me and supported me, through wrestling and through college and fighting and everything, I couldn’t live with that.”

Fitch has had ups and downs since he lost to St-Pierre at UFC 87 in August 2008. He went 5-0-1 after that, but a 12-second knockout loss to Johny Hendricks started a 1-3 slide that included his release from the UFC and a 41-second loss to Josh Burkman in his WSOF debut.

But with three wins in four fights after that, he got back to title status and had his best performance in the promotion yet against Zeferino.

Check out the video above for more from Fitch after his win at WSOF 30, which took place at Hard Rock Hotel & Casino in Las Vegas with a main card on NBCSN. And watch his complete backstage interview below.

Also see:

• WSOF 30 highlights: Abu Azaitar gets by Danny Davis Jr. in back-and-forth bout
• WSOF 30 highlights: Vinny Magalhaes holds off Jake Heun’s late rally to take decision
• WSOF 30 highlights: At long last, Jon Fitch gets his first major MMA title
• WSOF 30 highlights: David Branch retains middleweight title in rout of Clifford Starks

And for more on WSOF 30, check out the MMA Events section of the site.

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