UFC 138 Fight Card: What Thiago Alves Must Do to Beat Papy Abedi

Thiago Alves’ career can be summed up in about one word—mysterious.In fact, since entered the sport of mixed martial arts, Alves has showed shines of greatness—but he’s also showed his fair share of struggles.Alves, also referred to as the …

Thiago Alves’ career can be summed up in about one word—mysterious.

In fact, since entered the sport of mixed martial arts, Alves has showed shines of greatness—but he’s also showed his fair share of struggles.

Alves, also referred to as the “Pitbull”, lost two of his first four fights when he first entered the UFC as many fans began to consider him as your ordinary, average fighter.

However, Alves proved his critics wrong by reeling off seven consecutive wins on his way to a title shot with George St-Pierre at UFC 100.

Alves would end up losing to St-Pierre via Unanimous Decision as his career appeared to be heading back down the drain.

He went on to lose three of his next four fights, and even missed weight against Jon Fitch at UFC 117.

Now, set to take on rising star Papy Abedi, it was Alves who once again failed to make weight.

It appears as if Alves has a commitment problem as it’s not the first time in his career that this has occurred.

While Alves will be squaring off with Abedi in just a few short hours, his biggest challenge may very well be himself.

If Alves wants to defeat Abedi he’ll have to first get his mind straight.

Another strategy Alves will want to stick to is maintaining the fight in the stand up as he’ll be taking on a much stronger welterweight.

Abedi has displayed vicious ground and pound strikes in the past leaving fans to believe Alves will want to attempt to end his opponent’s night via knockout.

While Alves is the favorite going in, he’ll have to maintain his focus and stick to his game plan if he wants to leave England victorious.

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