Photo by Jeff Bottari/Zuffa LLC via Getty Images
Former UFC title challenger Thiago Alves will now fight TUF alum Julian Lane at BKFC 12 on September 11.
According to Bare Knuckle Fighting Championship former UFC welterweight title challenger Thiago Alves has had a change of opponent for his forthcoming bare knuckle boxing debut. ‘Pitbull’ had been scheduled to face for Phil Baroni, but the ‘New York Bad Ass’ is out of the match-up for an undisclosed reason. Stepping in is two-time TUF contestant Julian ‘Nitrane’ Lane.
Julian Lane has replaced Phil Baroni and will now face Thiago Alves in the main event for BKFC 12! pic.twitter.com/zcCpF4hjrf
— Bare Knuckle FC (@bareknucklefc) September 3, 2020
Alves vs. Lane is set to headline BKFC 12 on September 11 in Daytona Beach, Fl.
After a long tenure in the UFC, Alves was released from the promotion in January. The Brazilian joined ZUFFA back in 2005, making his debut versus Spencer Fisher at UFC Fight Night 2.
Alves lost that bout by submission, but went on to compete for the UFC 27 times in total. His most successful run with the promotion was in 2006-2008 when he reeled off a seven fight winning streak—that included TKOs of Karo Parisyan and Matt Hughes—to set up a title fight against Georges St-Pierre.
Alves faced St-Pierre at UFC 100 on July 11th, 2009 and lost by unanimous decision. Since that fight his UFC record was a less than stellar 6-9. His most recent UFC fight was against Tim Means last December, which he lost by submission.
Lane had a short, yet memorable, association with the UFC. His first Octagon appearance was in 2012, during the 16th season of The Ultimate Fighter. During that show Lane made himself a meme with his incessant cries of ‘Let me bang bro’.
After being bounced from the TUF tournament Lane fought on the regional MMA scene. In 2017 he was cast in TUF: Redemption. In that edition of the realty series he was eliminated by Ramsey Nijem.
Lane switched codes to bare knuckle boxing in 2018. His first fight was a unanimous decision win over Joey Angelo for the defunct WBKFF organization. He has had three fights for BKFC since then. They include a decision win over Tom Shoaff and stoppage losses to Leonard Garcia and Jim Alers.