Thiago Alves‘ long wait to return to the octagon will go on. The Brazilian welterweight suffered a tear of his left biceps tendon in training that has forced him out of his UFC on FOX Sports 1 matchup. In his place, Mike Pyle has stepped in to face Matt Brown.
The news was first reported by the Twitter account of FOX Sports 1.
The 29-year-old Alves (19-9) hasn’t competed since March 2012, when he suffered a guillotine choke submission at the hands of Martin Kampmann. In July 2012, he was supposed to compete at UFC 149 but was also knocked out of that commitment due to injury.
His misfortune is Pyle’s opportunity. The matchup against Brown is the type of high-profile option he’s asked for in the past. Pyle has won four straight bouts, three via finish and one by split-decision. Those wins have come over Rick Story, James Head, Josh Neer and Ricardo Funch.
The 37-year-old veteran has a 25-8-1 career record.
Brown has put together an even more impressive surge, capturing five straight, including back-to-back knockouts over Jordan Mein and Mike Swick. At one time, Brown seemed on the verge of being cut, but since his record fell to 12-11 with a loss in Nov. 2011, he’s been unbeatable, and recently made headlines when he commented on his chances against welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre, saying, “I’m 110 percent confident, if I show up at my best, he does not stand a chance in hell against me.”
UFC on FOX Sports 1 takes place on Aug. 17 at Boston’s TD Garden.