A welterweight bout between highly ranked Thiago Alves and up and coming Rick Story was the second bout on the UFC 130 pay-per-view card.
Alves, did not seem happy that the less experienced Story called him out. Alves has fought some of the best in the welterweight division, Georges St-Pierre, Jon Fitch, Matt Hughes, Chris Lytle and Josh Koscheck.
Story, on the other hand has not faced the level of competiton that Alves has, but he is on a five fight UFC winning streak and wanted to face the best available fighter in the division and he got his wish in Alves.
Story came out and threw hands to start the fight and went for the takedown which he did not gain, but he did land some strong knees to the legs of Alves.
Story spent a lot of time holding Alves up against the cage and minimizing the ability of Alves to throw.
The two fighters did exchange a few times and Story looked very comfortable exchanging with the more experienced Alves.
Story again looked for the takedown when the second round began, but he was unable to secure it, but he was able to hold Alves against the cage. He secured his second takedown attempt and the fighters were briefly on the ground before Alves then took Story down for a short while.
Story looked like a mini-Randy Couture, holding his opponent against the cage, making him hold his weight.
Story controlled the first two rounds of the fight and Alves was looking frustrated.
Alves opened the third round with some space and he was finally able to land his strikes, but Story once again took him to the cage. The two briefly exchanged strikes and Story again went to the clinch.
Story showed that not only could he throw hands, but that he could take the as well as he ate some heavy punches during the third.
As the clock ticked down Alves looked much stronger than Story, had this fight gone five rounds it very well could have gone to Alves, but it ended after three with the cards reading 29-28 for Rick Story, which the crowd seems to disagree with for some reason.
Story showed he was truly for real in this fight, so the next question would be, who and what’s next for Story?