Aging Alves ‘Going Back To Retirement’

Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images

Stick a fork in him, he’s done.
Thiago Alves fought like a 40 year-old veteran looking for a paycheck in the BKFC “KnuckeMania 4” main event last weekend in Los Angeles, Calif., which …


Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship - Thiago Alves v Julian Lane
Photo by Alex Menendez/Getty Images

Stick a fork in him, he’s done.

Thiago Alves fought like a 40 year-old veteran looking for a paycheck in the BKFC “KnuckeMania 4” main event last weekend in Los Angeles, Calif., which is a dangerous game to play in combat sports, especially against a cavity creep like Mike Perry, because every fight carries the risk of serious injuryor worse.

That’s why the former UFC welterweight title challenger is punching out.

“I’m going back to retirement,” Alves said at the “KnuckleMania 4” post-fight press conference. “I pretty much was already retired, but didn’t make an announcement, anything because I wanted to do one more, and this was it. Unfortunately it didn’t go my way, but I’ve been fighting professionally since I was 15 years old. I took this fight on eight-weeks notice, and I lost my mother on April 5. So I’ve been through a lot, and I put my family through a lot already. I’m happy being a coach, living the life that I live, but I got no regrets. Unfortunately, it’s almost impossible to go out on top when you’re competing at this level, but I’m happy with the man I see in the mirror.”

Hopefully he sees himself and not Josh Koscheck.

Alves previously teased a return to MMA after everyone at BKFC “forgot his name” but it appears that comeback is also off the table at this stage of his career. The Brazilian finishes with a 23-15 record in cage fighting and a 2-1 mark in gloveless combat, having scored BKFC wins over Julian Lane and Ulysses Diaz.

As for Perry, he’s moving on to the next big challenge — or the next big “Gorilla.”