Jon Fitch will put his welterweight title on the line for the first time in November when he meets Jake Shields in the WSOF 34 main event.
WSOF President Ray Sefo announced the matchup between Fitch (28-7-1) and Shields (31-8-1) to ESPN.com today, confirming the card would run opposite of the highly anticipated UFC 205 pay-per-view set for the same night at Madison Square Garden in New York City.
WSOF 34 takes place Nov. 12 at Budweiser Event Center in Loveland, Colo., near Denver. The main card will air on NBCSN following prelims on MMAjunkie.
Fitch won the 170-pound title in April with a unanimous decision win over Joao Zeferino at WSOF 30. The belt had been stripped from former champ Rousimar Palhares after he was suspended for holding yet another submission – against Shields in a title fight – for too long. Fitch had lost a title fight to Palhares by submission in 90 seconds at WSOF 16.
But after that loss, he outworked Yushin Okami at WSOF 24 in October 2015 in a title eliminator, then picked up a five-round sweep of Zeferino to win the belt earlier this year.
Jake Shields
Shields has long been expected to be Fitch’s first test as champion, but the fight was delayed by a contract negotiation between Shields and WSOF. Sefo told ESPN.com Fitch recently came to terms on a new deal, paving the way for the fight to finally be booked.
In his most recent fight, Shields was submitted by Palhares, which snapped a two-fight winning streak that saw him submit Ryan Ford at WSOF 14 in his promotional debut and Brian Foster at WSOF 17 in January 2015.
And for more on WSOF 34, check out the MMA Events section of the site.
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