Thiago Alves, Brain full of Glue, Belly full of Revenge

The welterweight “Pitbull” has been chomping at the bit for this opportunity.

While his initial inception in the UFC was all but stellar, losing in his debut to now lightweight gatekeeper Spencer Fisher, Alves then would reel off two impressive victories over Ansar Chalangov and Derrick Noble, before meeting nemesis Jon Fitch.

June 28, 2006, UFC Ultimate Fight Night 5, Las Vegas, Nev., is the site of where it all went down.

Opening frame saw Alves the agressor, dropping Fitch in the openings seconds with a hook, but the Perdue wrestler wouldn’t hear of it. He took down Alves and worked a heavy dose of grindage and ground and pound, a fierce attack and heavy pace–something that’s been missing from his most recent, lackluster performances in the cage against the likes of Ben Saunders, Mike Pierce, Paulo Thiago and Akihiro Gono (all of which went to a decision).

The second round, Fitch eventually wound up on his back in a scramble, landed an upkick to the jaw of Alves, followed up with punches, and the fight was waved off.

Some years later, they have both taken in some ways the same, but very different paths towards the top.

Fitch and Alves are both widely considered to be in the top 2-3 fighters in the welterweight division.

Following his fight with Thiago, the AKA product went on to dominate the other 170 pounders not named Georges St. Pierre.

Once his title fight came, Fitch was no match for GSP, as he outclassed in every facet of the fight. Standing up? He was knocked around more times than Pamela Anderson at the Playboy mansion. On the ground? He was…I don’t have anything clever to add to that, but he was on his back a lot.

Alves didnt fair much better, but his road towards the title shot was equally, if not more impressive than Fitch. Thiago, who holds a lifetime membership to American Top Team, defeated the likes of Chris Lytle, Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes, and Josh Koscheck on his was to the title–finishing all but Kos, although he dominated him on the feet and nullified any take down attempts.

After Alves suffered the loss to St. Pierre at UFC 100 in July of 2009, he was set to make his return opposite of Fitch at UFC 111, but a last minute CT scan confirmed that there was some sort of abrasion in the brain of Alves, which halted the bout from taking place then.

Now after having undergone minor surgery to the dome, and patched up with some glue in his brain (literally…there is glue in the guys brain), the fight is now stamp, signed, and ready to be delivered on August 7., as the co-main event of the evening under Anderson Silva vs. Chael Sonnen.

Thiago has peaked the interest of many analysts, and fans alike with his performances in the cage, with knockout victories galore. While Fitch and Alves due rest at the top of the heap, its the brazilian who has truly grown into a more well versed, well rounded fighter. His progression has shown in his performances, while Fitch has struggled in competition against lower tier fighters like Mike Pierce, though tough, is otherwise LARGELY unproven in the division as of yet.

So, does Thiago have the stuff regain some momentum with a win over Fitch at UFC 117, or will the self proclaimed Captain of AKA prove that history repeats itself, and add Thiago to his fifth consecutive victory, and claim number one contendership once again?–Nah.