Pierce to Meet Jon Fitch at UFC 107

The UFC must see something special in Mike Pierce (10-1 MMA, 1-0 UFC), because this is the second time that the UFC has announced a matchup between Pierce and a top five welterweight.

Originally, Pierce was slated to fight Josh Koscheck (13-4 MMA, 11-4 UFC, #5 IWMMAR) at UFN 20, but after Koscheck was pulled from the fight, it looks like Pierce has been moved to UFC 107 to take on an even tougher opponent in Jon Fitch (19-3-0-1 MMA, 10-1 UFC, #2 IWMMAR).

Pierce is coming off of an impressive UFC debut that saw him defeat solid welterweight Brock Larson (26-3 MMA, 3-2 UFC). Fitch is in the middle of a solid two fight win streak following his loss to UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre (19-2 MMA, 13-2 UFC, #1 IWMMAR). There seems to be a tight top three of the welterweight division, with St. Pierre, Fitch and Thiago Alves (16-6 MMA, 9-3 UFC, #3 IWMMAR). A win over Fitch would do a lot of Pierce’s career, and certainly put him in the top ten.

Still, Pierce will be a prohibitive underdog, and the more likely goal (though it’s certainly not the way a fighter should think) would be to have an impressive showing against a very tough Fitch and put himself in the position to develop into a top title contender long-term. If Fitch beats Pierce, it’ll be a solid third win, but he’s not really in a position to return to title contention until he gets another win over a top ten fighter (his win over Paulo Thiago was impressive, but one more puts him in a position to generate even more hype for a challenge).