UFC releases, re-signs star middleweight Jon Fitch after video game rights flap

One of the stranger MMA stories of the year involved a spat between UFC fighter Jon Fitch and promotion President Dana White. Here’s how it went down–the UFC and videogame company THQ are developing a videogame.  Meanwhile, EASports–who is essentially the dominant company in sports videogames–are independently developing their own game. Until now, there’s been a dearth of MMA video games but with the growth of the sport and the need for videogame companies to come up with new games that’s about to change.

The UFC wanted their fighters to sign over the rights to use their likenesses in the forthcoming game–for life. It was the “for life” part that Fitch and several other fighters had an issue with. It’s also important to note that the fighters who took issue with Dana’s request were represented by DeWayne Zinkin and Bob Cook and/or were American Kickboxing Academy fighters. Dana has apparently had a beef with Zinkin and AKA for years and this situation brought it to a head.

The first response was Dana announced that Fitch had been released from his UFC contract. That sounded strange on the surface since Dana usually makes these announcements about struggling fighters or those who otherwise act unprofessionally. Fitch, on the other hand, has just turned 30 with a career mark of 19-3-1 with his only loss in the past six years UFC welterweight champ Georges St. Pierre. In that loss, Fitch bravely and went five rounds with GSP absorbing a wicked beating in the process. Long story short, Fitch is a warrior in the cage and a gentleman outside of it–one of the guys who personifies everything that is good about fighting.

Later on Wednesday, it came out that Fitch had been released in retaliation for objecting to the UFC’s licensing terms.  White disputed that in several radio and print interviews, only to launch into rambling obscenity laced tirades about how hard he works and the state of the economy.   His comments also indicated that several other fighters from Fitch’s American Kickboxing Academy team were next to get the boot for the same reason. 

In the early hours of Thursday morning, however, the drama was resolved—at least for the time being.  Fitch indicated that he’d spoken directly with UFC co-owner and former Stations Casino executive Lorenzo Fertitta and that they’d worked out their issues.  He dismissed the flap with White as the result of a “breakdown in communications”.  Neither the UFC or their parent company Zuffa, LLC made any public statement about the issue but Fitch indicated that he settled the issue with Fertitta and that he’d be fighting again in January.