Thiago Alves Cleared By Doctors To Fight Jon Fitch At UFC 117

Again, TMZ.com with an update on Thiago Alves’ health status:

Sources close to Alves tell TMZ Pitbull had an angiogram yesterday morning -- a post-operation procedure that took several hours -- but the results were good.

We’re told Alves’ doctor is currently sending a letter to the New Jersey Boxing Commission declaring him physically fit to fight. Alves has told us in the past that he wants to get back in the ring ASAP.

By ring, they of course mean cage.

MMAmania.com has more on the pending match up between two of the top welterweights in the sport:

This will be the third time the promotion has tried to hook these two up for a long-overdue rematch.

Originally pegged for UFC 107 in Memphis, Tennessee,“The Pitbull” had to withdraw due to a knee injury. Fitch remained on the card and defeated Mike Pierce via unanimous decision.

Fitch scored a convincing second round technical knockout of the Brazilian at UFC Fight Night 5. He would go on to win his next five fights and earn a crack at division champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 87: “Seek and Destroy” in Aug. 2008.

He was overwhelmed by the Canadian for 25 minutes, losing a lopsided unanimous decision.

Alves, too, went on a tear after the loss to Fitch with seven consecutive victories over top-ranked opponents such as Matt Hughes and Karo Parisyan, as well as outpointing Josh Koscheck on all three judges scorecards at UFC 90 in October of 2008.

However, St. Pierre would also end Alves’ run with another five-round clinic at UFC 100 back in July.

On the other hand, Fitch exacted revenge against submission specialist Paulo Thiago with a unanimous decision at UFC 100 and notched a similar result against Akihiro Gono earlier this year. He also outworked Mike Pierce (Alves’ replacement at UFC 107) to earn the nod from all three judges sitting ringside.

Keep it locked to SB Nation for further developments on this story.