There was a time when news confirming that two of the UFC’s best welterweights were going to throw down, would drop the productivity of hardcore MMA fans working that day to less than our interest in seeing “Valentine’s Day” starring Ashton Kutcher. But now in this new era of totally awesome MMA saturation (and no we’re not being sarcastic), today’s confirmation by the UFC that Jon Fitch will toss leather with Thiago Alves for a second time at UFC 111, might actually get lost in the mix. After all, the March 27th card is already set to feature a welterweight title fight between GSP vs. Dan Hardy, as well as Frank Mir vs. Shane Carwin for the interim heavyweight strap.
All this aside, we’re pretty damn excited about seeing this bout, as should you be. Fitch continues to be arguably the UFC’s best welterweight who isn’t named St. Pierre; aside from his August, 2008 decision loss to the champ, the guy has gone 11-1 in the Octagon. If anyone is in position to diss Hardy’s title shot, Mr. Fitch certainly could be the frontrunner.
Alves has always talked publicly about his desire to rematch Fitch; the “Pitbull” lost by TKO to Fitch in June, 2006, but since then the ATT fighter has blown out notables like Matt Hughes and Karo Parisyan, in addition to earning a UD win over Fitch’s buddy and teammate Josh Koscheck. Thiago’s yet another welterweight beast who couldn’t get past GSP…
And in case you’re wondering, yes, the bout is scheduled to be on the televised portion of the card. Some things are just meant to be…