With Fighting, Jon Fitch’s Motivation Has Changed

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Jon Fitch will look to get back on track Oct. 26 when he meets Marcelo Alfaya at World Series of Fighting 6, which streams live (undercard) on Sherdog.com.

Ahead of the bout, Fitch joined the Sherdog Radio Network’s “Beatdown” show and discussed his move to New York, why he fights and much more.

On his personality: “I’ve always been a bit of a loner. It’s kind of a weird paradox. I’m a leader, but I’m a loner at the same time. When I see things that aren’t right, I need to do something about it. It just frustrates me to all ends and I get vocal at that point. … I never understood people who complained about solitary confinement because I would be happy. I’m happy getting away and being alone for a while. … My wife used to go to school down at U.C. Irvine and she’d be gone, and there would be a time when I wouldn’t even speak to another person for a week. Like after a fight, my management and P.R. people would call it my cave because all communication was over. It was me and my Xbox, and no one knew where I was or what I was doing for at least a week.”

On fighting: “Initially I got into fighting for the same reasons a lot of guys do: money, chicks, travel, all the cool fun stuff. You want to be the best and be on the top and regarded as the king of the hill. Now my motivations have shifted. I’m fighting basically because I want to be around my family. I want to hang out with my family. I don’t want to have to work a nine-to-five. I don’t want my wife to have to work a nine-to-five. On any given day, I’m not away from the household more than three to five hours a day. That’s a lot of quality time home with the kid, and I’ve got another kid on the way. I’m looking forward to putting in a lot of time with them.”

On moving to New York to take a job with Pacific Health Club: “My main duty over there will be to help set up and create a fight team for the owner of the gym. This gym is ridiculous. Ninety thousand square feet. I thought our gym at AKA was big when we moved into the 29,000-square-feet facility here, but this is an old Chevy dealership and the guy put in pools, an indoor track. There’s climbing walls, weight rooms, everything you could imagine. … It’s the most impressive facility I’ve ever seen.”

On training at AKA for his bout against Alfaya: “Just the level of quality of training partners is not going to be found really anywhere else. We’re really starting from scratch over there in New York. Who knows? If in five years we’ve developed something amazing, then I may just be there full-time, but right now I’m putting in a year and seeing what we can do within that year and we’ll see if both ends of the agreement are happy after that year.”

On Alfaya: “Really good on the ground, heavy handed, tough guy. He hasn’t had a lot of activity in the last few years, but he’s a solid fighter and I’m going to have to be prepared for anything with this guy.”

Listen to the full interview (beginning at 42:20).