by Bryant BrookIf there is one man in the welterweight division that can match the size, strength, and talent of Georges St. Pierre, it's Thiago Alves. Walking around at over 200 pounds, the man is a monster in the octagon. The only thing that may match his brawniness is his accomplished skill set. Alves claims he has advantages over St. Pierre in "pretty much everything." If there is one man that is a proficient test for Georges, it's "The Pitbull" himself.
Thiago Alves was infatuated with the sport since he was young. "Not actually fighting," said Thiago, "but the competition aspect about it. I watched a lot of Van Damme and Bruce Lee movies growing up and that just added to my wanting to be a professional fighter." Alves claims he did not get into many fights when he was a child. He was typically the one breaking them up. In one fight, Thiago said, "the guy tried to punch me when I was helping so I had to knock him out."
Thiago began training at the age of 14 in Brazil. Focusing on Muy Thai in his early years, the tenacious Alves entered a professional Muy Thai bout at the age of 15 against a 25 year old man. He won by unanimous descision. At the age of 17, he began training for mixed martial arts. Alves went on to win his first professional MMA bout at just 18 years old, defeating a 31-year-old by unanimous decision.
At 19 years old, Thiago left the beautiful beaches of Forteleza Brazil to train with American Top team in Coconut Creek, Florida. While he said he loved the girls, food, and beaches of Brazil; he also loves America. With the help of the most prestigious fighting camp in the United States, Alves went on to produce key victories against Mike Littlefield, Nuri Shakir, Marcus Davis and Jason Chambers.
His crowd pleasing knockout victories caught the eye of the Ultimate Fighting Championship. Alves said fighting in the UFC is "like a dream come true. I have been waiting my whole career for this." In the UFC, he has defeated John Alessio by unanimous decision and KO’d both Derrick Noble, Ansar Chalangnov, Karo Parisyan, and UFC welterweight legend Matt Hughes.
Now, Alves trains six to eight hours every day, strengthening himself in nearly every discipline including jujitsu, wrestling, and boxing. In an interview with the UFC he said "I have no life when I'm training for a fight; that's all I do is train morning to night." Fighting on the main card of the most monumental event in the history of the sport, Alves will be training harder than ever. Will he have the tools to send Georges St. Pierre crashing to the canvas? Only July 11th knows the answer.
5 comments:
Thiago Alves is a very likeable guy. I love reading articles like this, it helps you root for a fighter when you know more about them. I'm a big GSP fan too. Good luck to both fighters.
Funny, I always thought Fitch would be the one to dethrone GSP. I don't think Alves has the tools.
I don't know if I have ever been this pumped for a fight card.
War Alves.
Alves doesn't have the tools to defeat GSP. If anything, a fluke ko.
Also, I don't think Thiagos defense will win this fight. Like you say, GSP is versatile and will adjust his approach if Thiago is very successful at stuffing the takedown attempts.
I don't see this fight as being close. I see GSP overwhelming Thiago, who has NEVER fought at the level needed to beat George. Sure, Thiago has improved since being KO'd by Fitch, but GSP has not been standing still since then. In fact, GSP manhandled a much better version of Fitch than Alves lost to.
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