This is still a rumor, but it looks like Akihiro Gono will not fight Jon Fitch at UFC 82, due to a long standing hand injury
A Post on Akihiro Gono’s personal blog:
I have a pain in my righthand from November(UFC debut fight)
So I could not train enough
I wondered it,Doctor checked my hand again,and This condition was so bad,
Doctor ordered me to stop fight and all training.
And operation is done. maybe in Junuary
I am verry sorry,my fans and John Fitch……..
I will annnounce operation schedule and come back time
Good I'm glad this happened…now maybe they will give Fitch a real fighter instead of this chump…I say Fitch/ Diego 2…i'd pay money for that no doubt about it
i think gonos pretty good actually but i do think fitch would beat him
yeah gonos a good fighter but i don't see him beating fitch, fitch should be fighting for the title or a top 5 guy.
I think Akihiro is a good fighter although his record goes back and forth with possibly the most draws I've seen on a fighters record. He has great ground skills and some good kicks as demonstrated by his fight with Ivan Salaverry, but I do think that Fitch would beat him. All in all I think that it would shape up to be a good fight with Fitch coming out with the win.
Yeah I think Fitch would have won this fight as well. I'd actually like to see Fitch get a title shot.
I believe he's got a shot at the winner of St. Pierre vs. Serra, so pretty much he's going to fight St. Pierre for the title witch is going to be a great fight to watch. I'll bet on St. Pierre over anybody in the division, but this is possibly going to be his biggest test if the fight ends up happening. I wouldn't be able to stay in my seat and watch it.