Jon Fitch spent nearly eight years fighting in the Ultimate Fighting Championship’s welterweight division and enjoyed hard earned victories over some of the division’s toughest and most popular fighters.

Thiago Alves, Diego Sanchez, Paulo Thiago, Erick Silva and many others fell to the grinding style of Jon Fitch. However, Jon Fitch and his performances, even many of his wins, were not beyond criticism.

From fans the world over all the way to UFC head honcho Dana White himself, the general complaint was the same: Jon Fitch is a boring fighter that can slow the pace of a fight to a near halt. Despite being among the UFC’s all-time best in terms of significant strikes landed, boring was the label that plagued Jon Fitch throughout his time in the UFC’s octagon.

A close friend and long-time supporter and fan of the sport of mixed martial arts once joked with me that, the only way you can make a Jon Fitch fight fun to watch is if you threw a knife in the cage about half of the way through the first round.

Although such a concept is as unlikely to occur as it is interesting to think about, it was certainly both humorous and thought provoking.

As it turns out, Jon Fitch appears to be prepared for just such a situation.

I spent last November (2010) training in the Army MACP. All their soldiers go through this program.

Going through this process has given me a much better understanding of what our military goes through, and an even deeper respect for our troops.