After Josh Burkman's impressive win over Aaron Simpson at World Series of Fighting 2 last night in Atlantic City, it was a foregone conclusion that he'd be probably fighting for the promotion's new welterweight title next. But when he found out that his opponent was going to be former UFC title challenger Jon Fitch on June 14th, Burkman wasn't impressed. He thinks that Fitch should win a fight in the promotion first (via MMA Junkie):
"I think he should come into the organization and win (a non-title fight), and then they need to put me in against the winner of that, which I think it'll be Jon Fitch. I think either one of us will represent this organization well as a titleholder."
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"I'm going to talk to them about it. I think I deserve a title shot. I beat Harris, I beat Simpson, and those are two of the best guys outside of the UFC. I think Jon Fitch needs to earn his title shot and then we can talk about it."
To be clear, promotion president Ray Sefo hasn't said anything about the organization's titles as of yet, only that the two men would meet each other in June. But he has stated soon that they're going to get started with creating titles ASAP, and this seems like a natural fight for the organization. In my eyes, Burkman doesn't really have a leg to stand on with the "Fitch should fight first" thing. He's one of the biggest stars in the promotion, and has one of the best track records. There's nothing wrong with him fighting for a title immediately.