Is Winning Enough?

A Recent debate at the Arm Bar Forum http://thearmbar.forumotion.com/f1-mma-forum about the next welter weight challengers got me thinking. I mean if Diaz wins then he gets the next shot, that's pretty much universally accepted, then we have the likes of Ellenberger, maybe Rory Macdonald, even Rumble Johnson with a couple more wins. There is however an elephant in the room, and his name is Jon Fitch. Most of the guys in the forum felt that Fitch would probably beat all of the contenders I've listed above. Incredibly he has lost just one fight in his 15 UFC appearances. To be fair it was a heavy loss to GSP but then again who has pushed the champ close recently? Some websites list Fitch in their pound for pound top 10, and with a record like that, it's difficult to argue. Yet despite this Jon Fitch is not being mentioned as a title contender, don't get me wrong I love the UFC but it seems in Fitch's case the fact that he is a top fighter is overlooked because he isn't "exciting". Sure Fitch tends to grind his way to decision wins, and hand on heart I would rather watch Anderson Silva fight all day long. Despite this I respect the fact that he is a tough SOB, and I think that it's important to remember that MMA is a sport and in sport winning is what matters most. I'm sure the UFC feel that Fitch v GSP 2 won't sell as many PPV's as a fresh match with one of the contenders above but I don't care about that, I want to see the best fight the best. If those guys would all get wrestled to a decision loss by Fitch, then that's their problem, they need to improve as fighters.  I don't think the UFC should protect them from Fitch because they are scared he will derail the fresh meat. Since Fitch lost to GSP he went on a 5 fight win streak before a draw with BJ Penn. Prior to his fight with Fitch, BJ was coming off back to back losses to Frankie Edgar and a win over the once great but terminally declining Matt Hughes. How are they both rewarded? Penn is in this weeks main event against Nick Diaz, Fitch gets a banana skin of a fight against Johny Hendricks (who is outside of the top 10, but very dangerous). Does that seem fair to you? Maybe we should look at it like a business, we all want the sport to grow and the best way to do that is put on exciting fights and increase the PPV numbers. Combined with that you have to say that in the UFC the cream really does tend to rise to the top. All of the champions are well deserving of the title. I just think that on this occasion if a guy has a record like Fitch's then regardless of his style you have to let him fight the top boys and consider him as a title contender.