The Impact Of Fitch Vs. Alves II

In a fight that will decide who gets the next crack at the welterweight crown, Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves will meet up once again for a rematch stemming back to Ultimate Fight Night 5 back in 2006. Both were still green prospects, with Fitch taking it via TKO in the second round. Although each of these guys have already had a fateful shot at Georges St-Pierre, these two are still some of the best in the world. A loss to GSP is really not much of an indicator these days, and neither of them have really been embarrassed by anyone else.

↵For Alves, this is a shot at redemption. Caught by a well placed up-kick, Alves wasn’t able to recover and was finally pounded out by an opportunistic Fitch. If Alves can keep this fight standing, he’s a handful for anyone in the division. While I’m sure his ground game is much improved, his assets lie in his striking. With devastating leg kicks and KO power in his hands, his strategy going into this fight with Fitch should be sprawl and brawl all the way. I am a huge believer in variables, and being able to weigh their impact on a fighter’s ability to win. With Alves, we see a man who has had a long layoff in the sport, and just had brain surgery. Along with skipping the media workouts amongst rumors of having trouble cutting the weight, and the head games that go along with fighting someone who holds a victory over you, there are a lot of issues that worry me. Red flag city.

↵A win for Fitch gets him a title shot, but it could also potentially pit him against his teammate, Josh Koscheck. If Koscheck manages to take the belt from GSP later in December, Dana White stated yesterday during the UFC 117 pre-fight press conference that he will, indeed, make the two AKA standouts get into the cage. That could get messy. Both fighters have publicly stated it will never happen, but I’ll take Dana’s word for it.

↵I like Fitch in this fight with Alves. While this could end up going either way, I just think Fitch had much less in the way of distractions and extracurricular activities. Not having brain surgery is always a plus. The former Boilermaker will put his wrestling to use, and look to avoid what used to be the most lethal leg kicks in MMA (Talk to Jose Aldo). Alves will lose this fight on his back, so I expect Fitch to work tirelessly in the clinch, on to the takedown, and into dominant top control. Fitch’s top game should be enough, and with Alves having trouble cutting the weight, his ability to avoid the takedown should deteriorate as the fight goes on.