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.
The UFC returns to the UK this weekend for UFC 138, which will feature a main event between middleweight power-punchers Chris Leben and Mark Munoz.Leben comes into the bout off his win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132, where he knocked out “The Axe Murd…
The UFC returns to the UK this weekend for UFC 138, which will feature a main event between middleweight power-punchers Chris Leben and Mark Munoz.
Leben comes into the bout off his win over Wanderlei Silva at UFC 132, where he knocked out “The Axe Murderer” in less than a minute.
Munoz is on a three fight win-streak with wins over Demian Maia, C.B. Dollaway and Aaron Simpson.
Full weigh-in results below:
Main Bouts (Tape-Delayed/Spike TV): Chris Leben (186) vs. Mark Munoz (186) Brad Pickett (134) vs. Renan Barão (136) Thiago Alves (171) vs. Papy Abedi (170)* Cyrille Diabate (206) vs. Anthony Perosh (205) Terry Etim (156) vs. Edward Faaloloto (155)
Preliminary Bouts (Facebook): John Maguire (170) vs. Justin Edwards (170) Michihiro Omigawa (145) vs. Jason Young (145) Rob Broughton (258) vs. Phil De Fries (243) Chris Cope (170) vs. Che Mills (169) Chris Cariaso (135) vs. Vaughn Lee (135)
*Alves initially missed weight at 172 but made the weight-limit of 171 on his second attempt.
Filed under: UFC, MMA Fighting Exclusive, NewsThiago Alves’ nutritionist knows how it must look for his fighter to come in a pound over on his first trip to the scale at the UFC 138 weigh-ins, but he still wishes people would give the UFC welterweight …
Thiago Alves‘ nutritionist knows how it must look for his fighter to come in a pound over on his first trip to the scale at the UFC 138 weigh-ins, but he still wishes people would give the UFC welterweight the benefit of the doubt just this once.
As nutritionist Mike Dolce told MMA Fighting from England on Friday afternoon, Alves had no trouble making the 171-pound limit on his second try, and would have made it the first time except for a calibration issue.
“We had four different scales,” Dolce said. “Every scale had him between [1]69 [pounds] and [1]71 [pounds]. We were happy. It was an easy weight cut, he felt fine, high energy, bouncing around. We got to the weigh-ins and he was [1]72.3 [pounds] with his shorts on. He took off his shorts and he was [1]72 [pounds] on the dot. We were shocked, but hey, no problem. We walked off the scale, we went backstage, there was a sauna there, he sat in the sauna for a few minutes, then he took a pee, then we went back out and made 171 [pounds]. It was literally that simple.”
What’s not so simple, according to Dolce, was dealing with the public backlash that he saw on Twitter once news got out that Alves was over. Though Alves made weight “maybe 40 minutes later,” according to Dolce, by then the story of his initial miss was out and MMA fans seemed to have made up their minds about him.
“And that sucks, because I see how hard this kid’s working,” said Dolce. “He understands that he has to work his way back up the ladder, and he’s doing everything correctly in his personal, emotional, professional, and financial life to make sure he makes a statement and makes a run in the welterweight division. Having something silly like this, to see everyone jump on him, you know, I understand why since he’s had trouble in the past, but come on, the kid came back a half-hour later and made weight with a smile.”
Granted, before Alves hired Dolce as a nutritionist, the Brazilian had a bad habit of coming in over the limit. He came in three pounds heavy for his fight with Matt Hughes at UFC 85, and he clocked in at 171.5 for his rematch with Jon Fitch at UFC 117 — a minor miss that cost him 20% of his fight purse.
Now it seems that fans are so used to Alves missing weight that Friday’s miscue only confirmed what they already believed about him, even though, Dolce said, they weren’t the only ones surprised by the numbers on the scale.
“There was five guys who got to the weigh-ins and stepped on the scale and were overweight and were shocked also. They had to jump in the back and start trying to cut weight on their own. …It’s always our responsibility as professionals to be on weight regardless of the circumstance. But when there’s this many guys this far off, something’s wrong. It’s not just us.”
While several foreign fighters have commented publicly on the difficulty of getting their normal dietary needs met while cutting weight in the U.K., Dolce said he brought “a suitcase full of food” for Alves — about $400 worth for just a few days, in his estimation. Customs restrictions make it impossible to bring fruits or vegetables in to the country, he said, but the team was well prepared and Alves had “an awesome weight cut.”
“He looks great, not sucked down, no dark circles under his eyes,” Dolce said. “It wasn’t a matter of, can he make weight? It was that we stepped on four different scales and I would have to say that our scale is wrong, because the UFC is the official.”
Thiago Alves’ nutritionist knows how it must look for his fighter to come in a pound over on his first trip to the scale at the UFC 138 weigh-ins, but he still wishes people would give the UFC welterweight the benefit of the doubt just this once.
As n…
Thiago Alves‘ nutritionist knows how it must look for his fighter to come in a pound over on his first trip to the scale at the UFC 138 weigh-ins, but he still wishes people would give the UFC welterweight the benefit of the doubt just this once.
As nutritionist Mike Dolce told MMA Fighting from England on Friday afternoon, Alves had no trouble making the 171-pound limit on his second try, and would have made it the first time except for a calibration issue.
“We had four different scales,” Dolce said. “Every scale had him between [1]69 [pounds] and [1]71 [pounds]. We were happy. It was an easy weight cut, he felt fine, high energy, bouncing around. We got to the weigh-ins and he was [1]72.3 [pounds] with his shorts on. He took off his shorts and he was [1]72 [pounds] on the dot. We were shocked, but hey, no problem. We walked off the scale, we went backstage, there was a sauna there, he sat in the sauna for a few minutes, then he took a pee, then we went back out and made 171 [pounds]. It was literally that simple.”
What’s not so simple, according to Dolce, was dealing with the public backlash that he saw on Twitter once news got out that Alves was over. Though Alves made weight “maybe 40 minutes later,” according to Dolce, by then the story of his initial miss was out and MMA fans seemed to have made up their minds about him.
“And that sucks, because I see how hard this kid’s working,” said Dolce. “He understands that he has to work his way back up the ladder, and he’s doing everything correctly in his personal, emotional, professional, and financial life to make sure he makes a statement and makes a run in the welterweight division. Having something silly like this, to see everyone jump on him, you know, I understand why since he’s had trouble in the past, but come on, the kid came back a half-hour later and made weight with a smile.”
Granted, before Alves hired Dolce as a nutritionist, the Brazilian had a bad habit of coming in over the limit. He came in three pounds heavy for his fight with Matt Hughes at UFC 85, and he clocked in at 171.5 for his rematch with Jon Fitch at UFC 117 — a minor miss that cost him 20% of his fight purse.
Now it seems that fans are so used to Alves missing weight that Friday’s miscue only confirmed what they already believed about him, even though, Dolce said, they weren’t the only ones surprised by the numbers on the scale.
“There was five guys who got to the weigh-ins and stepped on the scale and were overweight and were shocked also. They had to jump in the back and start trying to cut weight on their own. …It’s always our responsibility as professionals to be on weight regardless of the circumstance. But when there’s this many guys this far off, something’s wrong. It’s not just us.”
While several foreign fighters have commented publicly on the difficulty of getting their normal dietary needs met while cutting weight in the U.K., Dolce said he brought “a suitcase full of food” for Alves — about $400 worth for just a few days, in his estimation. Customs restrictions make it impossible to bring fruits or vegetables in to the country, he said, but the team was well prepared and Alves had “an awesome weight cut.”
“He looks great, not sucked down, no dark circles under his eyes,” Dolce said. “It wasn’t a matter of, can he make weight? It was that we stepped on four different scales and I would have to say that our scale is wrong, because the UFC is the official.”
Sticking with the low key feel of UFC 138, the event’s pre-fight press conference skipped the flashy fighter introductions, swapped Dana White with Marshall Zelaznik, and got right to business. Zelaznik informs us that UFC 138 is a couple hundred seats shy of selling out and has already broken the all-time revenue record for the LG Arena in Birmingham, England. Pretty crazy considering that this is a place that has hosted the likes of Queen, Iron Maiden, David Bowie, and most importantly The Spice Girls. Remember to stop by tomorrow night and check in on our liveblog of the event, and of course thank us for filling up your pockets like they were laundry bags. And have a good weekend, Potato Nation.
-Danga
Sticking with the low key feel of UFC 138, the event’s pre-fight press conference skipped the flashy fighter introductions, swapped Dana White with Marshall Zelaznik, and got right to business. Zelaznik informs us that UFC 138 is a couple hundred seats shy of selling out and has already broken the all-time revenue record for the LG Arena in Birmingham, England. Pretty crazy considering that this is a place that has hosted the likes of Queen, Iron Maiden, David Bowie, and most importantly The Spice Girls. Remember to stop by tomorrow night and check in on our liveblog of the event, and of course thank us for filling up your pockets like they were laundry bags. And have a good weekend, Potato Nation.
Filed under: UFC, NewsFor the third time in his last seven fights, Thiago Alves has missed weight.
Alves stepped on the scale at Friday’s UFC 138 weigh-in and came in at 172 pounds, one over the welterweight limit. Alves previously missed weight for h…
For the third time in his last seven fights, Thiago Alves has missed weight.
Alves stepped on the scale at Friday’s UFC 138 weigh-in and came in at 172 pounds, one over the welterweight limit. Alves previously missed weight for his UFC 117 fight with Jon Fitch and for his UFC 85 fight with Matt Hughes. He also tested positive for a banned diuretic at UFC 66, which he allegedly took to help him make weight.
Alves made weight (171 pounds) on his second try, according to MMA Junkie. All the other fighters made weight. Full results are below.
Main Card Chris Leben (186) vs. Mark Munoz (186) Renan Barao (136) vs. Brad Pickett (134)
Thiago Alves (172) vs. Papy Abedi (170) Terry Etim (156) vs. Edward Faaloloto (155)
Cyrille Diabate (206) vs. Anthony Perosh (205)
Undercard
John Maguire (170) vs. Justin Edwards (170)
Michihiro Omigawa (145) vs. Jason Young (145)
Rob Broughton (258) vs. Philip De Fries (243)
Chris Cope (170) vs. Che Mills (169)
Chris Cariaso (135) vs. Vaughan Lee (135)
Thiago Alves’ career can be summed up in about one word—mysterious.
For the third time in his last seven fights,