Winner of Fitch vs Alves will get title shot
Ultimate Fighting Championships president Dana White announced on Thursday that the upcoming fight between top welterweights Jon Fitch and Thiago Alves would determine who the next challenger to the mixed martial arts promotion’s 170lb belt would be. The fight takes place on Saturday night at UFC 117 in Oakland, California and will be broadcast on Pay Per View.
The belt is currently held by the Canadian Georges “Rush” St-Pierre, but it’s not certain if that’s who Fitch or Alves will face. St-Pierre has a title defence scheduled against Fitch’s team-mate, Josh Koscheck in December, meaning the winner of Fitch vs Alves will fight the winner of Koscheck vs St-Pierre in the new year.
Both Fitch and Alves have fought for the title before. At UFC 87 Fitch rode an eight-fight winning streak to challenge the Canadian. The ensuing fight became legendary because of St-Pierre’s brutal display of striking battered and badly hurt Fitch several times throughout the fight, but Fitch doggedly refused to quit, lasting all five rounds. He lost a one-sided decision but gained many new fans for his display of heart.
Alves has fought both men before. He actually defeated Koscheck at UFC 90, showing superb takedown defence and striking to batter Koscheck’s legs and face on route to a decision win, earning him a shot at the belt. But he fared little better than Fitch did against St-Pierre at UFC 100, as he was taken down multiple times by his opponent’s superior wrestling and generally dominated by the Canadian.
The only way the resulting match-up will not be rematch is if both Fitch and Koscheck win, but that fight may never happen. Fitch has stated he’ll never fight his American Kickboxing Academy team-mate Koscheck, even saying he’d change weight divisions before doing so. White has long been critical of Fitch for his unwillingness to fight his friend, and stated emphatically at the press conference that “Jon Fitch will fight Josh Koscheck” should they both win, but Fitch was non-committal.
The announcement comes as something of a surprise, as many commentators had predicted that the UFC 121 fight between Jake Shields and Martin Kampmann would determine the next challenger, but it seems that White wants to give fans more time to become familiar with those two lesser-known fighters before throwing them in for a title shot.
Also surprising is that Alves, plagued by injuries, hasn’t even fought once since his loss to St-Pierre, meaning he’d get a title shot off one win, a rarity in the sport. Fitch has on the other fight racked up four wins since his loss, meaning he’d need a five-fight win streak, but the harder road to the belt might be reflective of the fact Fitch is generally seen to be a boring fighter.
Fitch and Alves fought once years ago in 2006, with Fitch knocking Alves out with an upkick and punches.
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