Jon Fitch loses title fight

By Chad Ryan

Jon Fitch may not have fulfilled his intention to claim the Ultimate Fighting Championships world welterweight championship on Saturday at the Target Center in Minneapolis, Minn., but he proved he deserved to be there.

Fitch, a Fort Wayne native and the No. 1 welterweight contender, entered his fight against Georges St. Pierre in the premier match of Saturday’s UFC 87 pay-per-view broadcast as a heavy underdog despite not having lost a match in more than five years.

St. Pierre successfully defended his title, beating Fitch by unanimous decision (50-43, 50-44, 50-44), shutting Fitch out in five five-minute rounds. St. Pierre said on the broadcast that Fitch, whom he previously said was going to be his biggest challenge, proved his worth.

“He showed up tonight and wanted it,” St. Pierre said. “I said congratulations to him. His first title shot. He did awesome, and I told him that this loss is maybe the best thing to have happen to him. It’s going to make him stronger.”

Midway through the first round, it appeared the decidedly stronger St. Pierre would end it early. St. Pierre landed a big right hand that knocked Fitch to the canvas then proceeded to pound him to near submission, but Fitch was able to absorb the blows and keep St. Pierre in his guard long enough to survive to the second round.


Fitch came out dancing in the second round and both fighters traded blows while staying on their feet throughout the round. St. Pierre landed several sharp jabs, while Fitch worked the body and put together combinations.

St. Pierre nearly knocked Fitch out in the first minute of the third round with another huge right hand that landed flush on Fitch’s left eye. He went down hard and St. Pierre got on the mount then rained down punches and elbows battering Fitch’s badly cut and bruised face.

Once again Fitch took the beating, used his ground-fighting skills to get himself out of danger and got back to his feet to survive another round.

Fitch landed blows in the fourth round that opened up cuts to St. Pierre’s face, and the pair traded takedown attempts with each successfully blocking the other.

At the start of the fifth round, Fitch came out blazing, but failed to connect on anything solid and St. Pierre went to work taking the fight to the mat.

Although Fitch, who wrestled for Purdue, defends takedowns as well as any fighter in the UFC, St. Pierre took him down with ease in the final round, winding precious time off the clock. Fitch made a desperation attempt in the final minute, but St. Pierre’s strength proved to be too much.

Fitch’s mixed martial arts fight record dropped to 21-3, and his UFC record dropped to 8-1 with the loss.

_{**Disclaimer - I did not attend this event. This story was written after viewing the television broadcast.}

HTML coding is not my stick

Yes, that's right, I'm not a coder. I can do enough to get me by, but that stuff is best left up to the experts. But, due to me not having any experts on the Indiana Phoblographer paid staff I decided to do a little tinkering to the blog template.

I've done quite a bit actually, but I had not been able to figure out how to make photos appear bigger on the site. This is a photo blog after all, so I had to figure it out because I want my photos to be seen. The writing part, well, let's just say I don't get Playboy Sports Ilustrated for the articles.(Hi, honey!)

After finally finding a tutorial on how to do it, my photos will now be displayed in all of the grandeur. Sometimes I lean toward the edge of hyperbole, so bear with me.

So, I decided that my photo of Carl Edwards and his crew completing a pit stop at Chicagoland Speedway last month was worth a revisit. I still can't believe that sunset.

Afternoon Tennis

It's finally a little slower around here. Although our high school football coverage is about to kick into overdrive, this week was good for a slight breather. The last two days, I shot a couple of Fort Wayne city tennis tournament matches, and on both days we had great light. It made for some photos that were a little contrasty for newsprint, but what more can we expect from using recycled TP?

A story that came out of the tournament is the womens' championship will feature the youngest player in Fort Wayne tournament history to compete for a title. Twelve-year-old Leah Barnes beat out a women 30 years her senior in the semis to advance and face three-time defending champion Amy Recht. Check out Blake Sebring's story on last night's match here.

Here are just a few photos from the last two days.



<sub>July 31, 2008 - Fort Wayne, Ind. - Leah Barnes, 12, returns a shot at the baseline during her semifinal match in the Fort Wayne City womens tennis tournament. Barnes beat Lee Dunstedter Thursday to face defending champion Amy Recht in the championship match on Monday at Swinney Tennis Center.
Photo by Chad Ryan.



July 31, 2008 - Fort Wayne, Ind. - Lee Dunstedter reaches to hit a shot down the line in her match against 12-year-old Leah Barnes in the semifinals of the Fort Wayne City womens tournament.
Photo by Chad Ryan.



July 30, 2008 - Fort Wayne, Ind. - Hunter Schouweiler keeps his eyes on the ball during his match against Weston Young in the mens' city tennis tournament on Wednesday. Schouwieler won the match 6-1, 6-1 and will face defending tournament champion and best friend Derek Carpenter in the semifinals.
Photo by Chad Ryan.



July 30, 2008 - Fort Wayne, Ind. - Derek Carpenter pumps his fist after scoring a point in the second set of his match against Renato Costa in the mens' city tennis tournament on Wednesday. Carpenter, the defending champion, lost the first set, but stormed back to take the second set 6-0 before eventually winning the match in a third set tie-breaker.
Photo by Chad Ryan.</sub>

Worst ... race ... ever.

Maybe it wasn't as bad as my headline would suggest, but as far as big time races go, Sunday's Allstate 400 at the Brickyard had to be high on the list. Due to the tire issues I wrote about for The News Sentinel for Sunday Online NASCAR mandated competition yellows every 11 laps during the 160 lap race at Indy. As you might surmise, it was a long day. The fact that fans booed everytime the yellow flag waved proved even the die hards were less than enthused.

It made my job a little easier, if that can be said about anything at Indianapolis Motor Speedway. I had time to move around more, change equipment a couple of times and actually make a restroom break. The sound of SpongeBob Squarepants saying "Aaaamazinggg" comes to mind. Sorry, I have little ones, and we have shows we watch.

Anyway, I didn't make all the pictures I wanted. I just don't have the access I need at that track, but after talking to one of the gentlemen who works at IMS Photo, I've got a better idea how to change that for next year. The funny thing is when I go to Chicago or Michigan, those folks do everything in their power to get me what I need. I don't get everything. There is a pecking order, and the Sentinel isn't at the top of it, but they give me enough access to get what I need.









Wait, if future Brickyard races are going to be like Sunday's, I may not want more access. Check out Up To Speed for more of my commentary on the Debacle at the Brickyard.

_{Keep in mind that these are my opinions and are not those of the newspaper that employs me.}