By Kris Graft
"I don't really have the desire to have my face out there in the form of a doll or a videogame or whatever. I don't really care."
The mixed martial arts world was shaken up this week when UFC president Dana White ejected former welterweight title challenger Jon Fitch and other UFC fighters from the organization, reportedly for refusing to sign a deal related to THQ's upcoming UFC 2009 Undisputed videogame.
But after one day, Fitch and fellow fighters Christian Wellisch, Josh Koscheck and Cain Velasquez all agreed to sign the deal and were reinstated.
Fitch gave Edge more background on the situation in a phone interview Friday: "Mostly, it didn't really have anything to do with the game, it was more or less the way that Dana brought [the contract] to us. It was a respect thing. He talked down to us as fighters despite the work we've done for them."
White released the fighter earlier this week after he refused to sign a lifetime agreement for his image and likeness to be used in THQ's UFC games.
"In all reality, the chances that I would get a videogame deal of my own--that'd probably never happen. It's more about how they brought the agreement to us rather than the agreement itself."
White's approach had been either you sign, or you're out, but Fitch was able to iron out the deal after speaking with UFC CEO Lorenzo Fertitta.
White said in a radio interview on Sacramento's 1140 KHTK about the situation, "It doesn’t have to do with Jon Fitch either. I like Jon Fitch."
But despite White "liking" Fitch, the UFC boss told Yahoo! Sports immediately after the fighters refused to fall in line, "[Expletive] him. These guys aren’t partners with us. [Expletive] them. All of them, every last [expletive] one of them."
Fitch, who plays the occasional Xbox 360 game told us, "Maybe [White's] just stressed out. I don't know."
THQ was quiet on the situation, stating the dispute "is between the UFC and their fighters. Because of this, THQ is not offering comment."
Fitch added, "I just care about the fighting. I don't care about all that other stuff. I don't really have the desire to have my face out there in the form of a doll or a videogame or whatever. I don't really care. But you don't really get the choice of not being a part of it. ... It doesn't really matter to me."
