Filed under: UFC
SAN FRANCISCO – When UFC welterweight contender Thiago Alves missed Wednesday’s UFC 117 open workouts to focus on his weight cut, he knew he’d probably set off a minor panic.
“I was expecting that,” Alves told MMA Fighting on Thursday afternoon. “Once you miss weight, it’s the first thing everyone talks about.”
The truth, according to the bulky welterweight who has struggled with making the 170-pound limit in the past, was that his weight cut has proceeded exactly according to plan. Sitting out of the open workouts was no more than a precautionary measure to ensure there were no surprises on the scales later today.
“[The weight cut]’s been easy. It’s one of the easiest times it’s ever been. I just didn’t want to go to the workout and miss a day of working on it, because I wanted to make sure everything was under control and where it should be so I can make it easy on myself. I asked the UFC if I could skip the workout and do some real training, and they let me go. They had so many fighters already, so it was fine.”