The second- and third-best welterweights in mixed martial arts are likely to meet in the Octagon in December, as Thiago Alves is expected to get a rematch against Jon Fitch at UFC 107.Fitch's planned fight at UFC 106 with Ricardo Almeida was called off because Almeida suffered a knee injury, and the UFC decided to give fans an even better fight instead: According to MMA Junkie, Thiago Alves is poised to fight Fitch at UFC 107. Alves had been slated to fight Paulo Thiago at UFC 107, but an Alves-Fitch fight is a much better bout, and one that will make fans in Memphis, where UFC 107 will take place, very happy.
Alves and Fitch already fought once before, at UFC Fight Night 5 in June of 2006, with Fitch winning by second-round TKO. Since then Alves and Fitch have each gone 7-1, firmly establishing themselves near the top of the welterweight division.
The problem, of course, is that for both Alves and Fitch, their one loss was a one-sided beating at the hands of UFC welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre. That means that even though the winner of Alves-Fitch 2 will be the undisputed No. 2 welterweight in the world, he probably won't be very close to another title shot. St. Pierre has already proven he's a lot better than both Alves and Fitch.
Still, there's no shame in being the second-best welterweight in the world, and Alves vs. Fitch will be a very good fight.
Comments (Page 1 of 1)
This is a great matchup and all, but ... after a tough grueling fight against a very dangerous opponent, what does the winner get? A rematch with GSP? I'm not so certain that will happen after the way GSP dismatled both of them for 5 rounds.
I'm not complaining, but this fight just shows us how GSP has cleaned out the division. GSP should take a fight or two at 185. Maybe against a tough durable guy like Quarry or Leben ... a fight against Bisping would be huge!
Fitch is going to beat that ass like he did in their first fight. Alves can't stop a takedown to save his life and it's going to be a long night for him against an ever improving Fitch.
GSP needs to move up in weight but he won't because he's afraid of fighting people his own size.
Uhh GSP is afraid of fighting people his own size? Fitch is quite a bit bigger than him and I remember reading that Silva cut nearly 30 pounds for the title fight.
In any case I'd rather see Fitch (who is always getting better) fight for the belt again than the winner of Swick/Hardy. Fitch at least might have learned a thing or two in his loss while Swick and Hardy would have nothing better than a puncher's chance.
would had been better if it was Matt Hughes. finally Hughes vs AKA
just my thoughts, fitch is no joke and thiago is a beast yes they both got beat but in this case they both deserve a rematch, they can only get better from there last fight with gsp, and im sure they have been traing hard especialy take down defense which looks like greg jackson favorite stuff (take downs) ,id say the winner of swick/ hardy get the first fight with st,piere ,dont forget st piere has a injury that has not been tested yet and that could end his carreer if he gets hurt like that again ,or at least take him out of his prime ,just like gsp got his rematch after hughes choked him for the win ,they deserve it also ,as for 185 pound division ,he sounded scared when joe rogen asked him about moving up and he was saying he needs time ,like a year ,to get bigger for that class ,, all i see is the fighters trying to lose more wieght and go down to the next class so that would not be a good thing for him going up,he would have gotten the crap slapped out of him if he fought silva/marquet/henderson or franklin now belfort,stay where you are,,,,,and dont forget a punchers chance is a great thing because that leads to a nast KO ,matt serra KOd him so i can see them having that chance ,,hardy and swick throw for the fences,,,,,im not taking anything from gsp ,,gsp is a take down ground and pound animal and is a great champion