Leban/Bisping and Alves/Sanches UFCOct. 18

Post #1 » by **Headliner** » Thu Jul 3, 2008 4:35 pm

While the welterweight division looks toward a championship match in August between current titleholder Georges St. Pierre and Jon Fitch, the weight class will continue to build toward a new top contender as MMAWeekly.com has learned that American Top Team knockout artist Thiago “Pitbull” Alves is slated to return on Oct. 19 to face former “Ultimate Fighter” winner Diego Sanchez.

The bout was confirmed to MMAWeekly.com by sources close to the fight. There is currently a verbal agreement with actual bout agreements for the contest expected to be signed in the next few days.

Showing a true dedication to making his way to the top of the welterweight division, Alves has never been shy about facing top competition in the division.

Most recently, he finished former Ultimate Fighting Championship welterweight kingpin Matt Hughes by TKO in the second round of their main-event matchup in England at UFC 85. Before that fight, Alves became the first fighter ever to knock out Karo Parisyan, thus solidifying himself as one of the most dangerous fighters at 170 pounds.

Now Alves will have a chance to cement his placement in the division even more as he takes on the always-dangerous Diego Sanchez in the co-main event of UFC 89 in England, sharing the spotlight with a middleweight bout pitting Michael Bisping against Chris Leben.

Sanchez started his career with an unblemished record and looked to be making his way toward an eventual title shot before suffering the first loss of his career against longtime rival Josh Koshcheck in April 2007.

Following a lackluster performance in that fight, Sanchez went to battle with Koscheck’s teammate and current No. 1 contender, Jon Fitch. Despite a strong performance, Sanchez dropped his second fight in row losing a close split decision to Fitch at UFC 76.

Since that time, Sanchez has returned to form, stopping David Bielkheden at UFC 82 and then putting on a stand-up clinic against Luigi Fioravanti at The Ultimate Fighter 7 finale in June.

The matchup between Alves and Sanchez should produce fireworks as both fighters possess an amazing well-rounded style, while maintaining an always intense pace.

El Hardee · Post #2 » by **El Hardee** » Thu Jul 3, 2008 6:45 pm

Leban/Bisping is going to be target practice for the Count, but Diego and Alves is going to be awsome. Good find, cant wait to see it.

Cammo101 · Post #3 » by **Cammo101** » Thu Jul 3, 2008 11:17 pm

Diego is fools gold. The UFC has tried to hype Diego forever, but when the going gets tough, Diego folds like an accordion. Alves will run right through him.

El Hardee · Post #4 » by **El Hardee** » Fri Jul 4, 2008 12:00 am

Cammo101 wrote:Diego is fools gold. The UFC has tried to hype Diego forever, but when the going gets tough, Diego folds like an accordion. Alves will run right through him.

I somewhat agree, Diego is alot of hype, but he is still a talented fighter and his frantic style is a serious match up problem for people. I got Diego in the 2nd by TKO via gnp. I cant see Alves keeping up with Diego in the scramble.

Post #5 » by **CPT** » Fri Jul 4, 2008 12:30 am

Alves vs. Sanchez is an awesome fight for free TV. I had a feeling this might be the next fight for both if they didn't want to give Alves a title shot right away (and after failing to make weight, I guess they didn't). The winner should be next in line for a title shot (although if Fitch beats GSP, that might change things since he has beaten them both). I still think Diego is a very good fighter. His only losses have been a boring decision to Koscheck while he was injured, and a split decision with Fitch, the clear #2 in the world at WW.

Bisping vs. Leben is interesting enough as well. Bisping is clearly the favourite, but at least it's somewhat of a test for him at MW. If he wins this, he should get a fight with someone like Leites, Marquardt, Almeida, or Cote for a title shot. I'd throw Okami in that group, but I think he already deserves a shot. Similar situation with Franklin and Henderson, only that they won't be getting title shots because of their recent losses to Silva. I'm not convinced Bisping would beat any of the guys I mentioned, let alone Silva, but with a win here and one more high quality win, he would have a case for a title shot. He might not even need one past Leben, because I bet the UFC would love to have their UK star headlining against Anderson Silva in London sooner rather than later.

Cammo101 · Post #6 » by **Cammo101** » Fri Jul 4, 2008 5:23 am

El Hardee wrote:
Cammo101 wrote:Diego is fools gold. The UFC has tried to hype Diego forever, but when the going gets tough, Diego folds like an accordion. Alves will run right through him.
I somewhat agree, Diego is alot of hype, but he is still a talented fighter and his frantic style is a serious match up problem for people. I got Diego in the 2nd by TKO via gnp. I cant see Alves keeping up with Diego in the scramble.

Alves will put Diego to sleep in the 2nd.

Vik Rude · Post #7 » by **Vik Rude** » Sun Jul 6, 2008 11:09 pm

Bisping will knock the **** outta Leben and then face Cote for the middleweight title.

cowboyronnie · Post #8 » by **cowboyronnie** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 1:13 am

Alves vs Diego is killlllllllllllllller.

STFU, Cammo. What nonsense. That may have played 2.5 years ago, but the guy has beaten a lot of very good opponents.

Cammo101 · Post #9 » by **Cammo101** » Sun Jul 13, 2008 10:02 pm

What legit opponents has Diego beaten exactly? UFC has tried to hype him up by feeding him stiffs. He beat Karo, then got run through by the only tiop tier fighters he has fought in Koschek and Fitch. Koschek embarrassed him and the Fitch fight was not exactly close either. Since then the UFC has fed Diego a bunchof stiffs no one has heard of in an effort to try to rehype him as legit.

Diego has done absolutely nothing in his career to prove he can hang with Thiago Alves. We see this time and time again with guys who the UFC attempts to hype up as the next big thing, only to see them step up in class and get murdered.

Post #10 » by **CPT** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 12:32 am

Nick Diaz is definitely legit.

Joe Riggs is not a top level guy, but he's not a can.

Kenny Florian is a top 5-10 LW now, but he wouldn't have been back then, and that fight was at 185, so I can understand overlooking that.

In any event, you will be hard pressed to find too many guys in MMA who have records as impressive as DIego's, by only fighting guys in the top 10 of their weight class. He's still 19-2 and has never been finished, despite fighting a lot of good to great fighters.

Now, please enlighten me on what the **** exactly Thiago Alves has done to be ranked ahead of Sanchez in your mind, besides beating a Matt Hughes who has clearly lost a step (or three).

Cammo101 · Post #11 » by **Cammo101** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 3:02 am

Alves has better wins (Hughes, Karo, Marcus Davis, Lytle, Alessio...) and he has looked a lot better doing it. I am not trying to say that Diego is a bum, he can clearly fight. What I am saying is the UFC is overhyping him because they want him to be a star, when in actuality his best win came over a guy Alves knocked out in 34 seconds.

Diaz and Karo were both nice wins for Diego, but neither of those guys are top 10 fighters and they are the only legit 170's he has beated. Riggs and Florian fighting up 100 pounds are average wins at best. It seems Diego has been fed a lot of 155 pounders moving up in weight.

I like Diego ok, just not as much as Joe Rogan wants me to. But, to compare him to Alves, one of the top 5 fighters at 170, is a joke until Diego can beat anyone of note.

cowboyronnie · Post #12 » by **cowboyronnie** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:03 am

Nick Diaz is easily top 10 at 170. And Diego's greatly improved since that win.

Karo, Riggs...all guys who have had title shots. Jorge Santiago is very good too.

Fioravanti or whatever the **** looked awesome. He's no bum. That leaves a single "can" that Sanchez has been "fed" since the back-to-back losses. Wow, what pandering. :roll:

Post #13 » by **CPT** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 1:30 pm

Okay, take away Karo and Alessio, because Diego has beaten both of them. If you want to bring up the fact that Alves knocked Karo out while Diego took him to a decision, how about we bring up the fact that Alves got finished by Fitch, who could only edge out a split decision against Sanchez; evens things out a bit if you ask me. He gets credit for the Hughes win, but that doesn't mean as much as it did a few years ago. The fight with Marcus Davis was the exact opposite. That was Davis' 2nd MMA fight, and while I think Alves would still beat him, that win doesn't mean as much as it would now. That leaves the Lytle fight, which was a doctor's stoppage, though Alves looked very impressive.

I'm really not trying to knock Alves here, I like him a lot as a fighter, but I take issue with anybody thinking Alves vs. Sanchez is a mismatch, when it's clearly a **** awesome matchup.

Cammo101 · Post #14 » by **Cammo101** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 4:12 pm

Not only is Nick Diaz not top 10 in 170, he doesn't even fight at 170. Diaz has pretty much stayed at 155, where he isn't top 10 either. Nick Diaz is one of those guys who can beat or lose to anyone. The guy beat Gomi and then lost to Noons.

Diaz and Florian were 155's moving up to 170, which oddly Diego gets to fight a lot of.

Post #15 » by **CPT** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 5:09 pm

Cammo101 wrote:Not only is Nick Diaz not top 10 in 170, he doesn't even fight at 170. Diaz has pretty much stayed at 155, where he isn't top 10 either. Nick Diaz is one of those guys who can beat or lose to anyone. The guy beat Gomi and then lost to Noons.

Diaz and Florian were 155's moving up to 170, which oddly Diego gets to fight a lot of.

At least he beats them.

*cough*Spencer Fisher*cough*

Cammo101 · Post #16 » by **Cammo101** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 10:05 pm

Spencer Fisher is a good fighter and there is certainly no shame in losing to him. Especially considering it was early in his UFC career. Now though, he is on a 7 (I think) fight winning streak and he is steamrolling quality fighters. Alves is not just beating good fighters, he is embarrassing them.

SpReEfOrAlL · Post #17 » by **SpReEfOrAlL** » Mon Jul 14, 2008 11:10 pm

Alves is gonna obliterate Sanchez, i agree with Cammo 100%. Sanchez is ok, but not a top flight fighter. Definitely not top 5. I think at this point he is destined for gatekeeper duties unless he vastly improves.

Cammo101 · Post #18 » by **Cammo101** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 1:12 am

Spree and I finally agree on something...look out world.

The Notic · Post #19 » by **The Notic** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 2:41 am

Cammo101 wrote:Not only is Nick Diaz not top 10 in 170, he doesn't even fight at 170. Diaz has pretty much stayed at 155, where he isn't top 10 either. Nick Diaz is one of those guys who can beat or lose to anyone. The guy beat Gomi and then lost to Noons.

Diaz and Florian were 155's moving up to 170, which oddly Diego gets to fight a lot of.

Diaz has never fought at 155.

He gogo'd Gomi and lost on a cut to Noons. Completely different levels of winning/losing.

Cammo101 · Post #20 » by **Cammo101** » Tue Jul 15, 2008 4:25 am

What are you talking about dude. The Noons fight and the Gomi fight were both at 155. Also, you can say Diaz lost because of a cut, but the fact of the matter is he was being beat all over the ring before that stopage. Also, that Gomi fight was later made a No Contest, so even calling that a win is generous, though he looked great in the fight.

Diaz, Diego are both good, but not great fighters who are in no ones top 10. At least no one relivant.