MMA Coverage

Filed under: UFC, FanHouse Exclusive, interview

Thiago Alves' plane touched down in Oakland, Calif., and he exhaled. After a championship match loss, after two fight postponements, after brain surgery and 13 months of inactivity, the worst stretch of his young career was supposed to have been over. Yet Alves was unknowingly walking into another trying period, this one partly of his own doing.

In the next few days, the 26-year-old would fail to make weight for his No. 1 contenders match with Jon Fitch, lose a decision in the UFC 117 bout, and then hear the disappointment of his boss, UFC president Dana White.

And now, after it all, he's tasked with the uphill climb of starting over.

"After all the bull--- I've been through, I've finally had some time to breathe," he told MMA Fighting after a recent workout. "I had a chance to look back at the situation. I know I have things to correct. I'm not done yet. I needed to go through those things to reveal myself as a stronger person. I won't let them bring me down."

Tags: Dana White, Jon Fitch, MMA News by Mike Chiappetta
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Filed under: UFC, Strikeforce, Rankings, Welterweights

If there was any doubt that Jon Fitch is the second-best welterweight in the world, he erased that doubt on Saturday night. By thoroughly dominating Thiago Alves at UFC 117, Fitch firmly established himself as MMA's best welterweight not named Georges St. Pierre.

Unfortunately for Fitch, he was beaten so badly by St. Pierre in their previous fight that there aren't a lot of fans clamoring for a rematch. And if St. Pierre loses to Josh Koscheck in December, it's an open question whether Fitch will even accept a title fight if it's offered to him, since he and Koscheck are friends and training partners.

And so while UFC President Dana White has said Fitch earned the No. 1 contender position with his victory, I'm not so sure that Fitch's next fight will be for the title. I think it's more likely that we're going to see Fitch put into the Octagon with someone else (maybe the Jake Shields-Martin Kampman winner) as he continues his role as the welterweight division's permanent gatekeeper. Fitch is a great fighter, but I view him less as a No. 1 contender than as a guy who's stuck at No. 2.

Find out how I rank the rest of the welterweight division below.

Tags: Georges St. Pierre, Jake Shields, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, MMA News, Matt Hughes, Nick Diaz by Michael David Smith
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Filed under: UFC

As Anderson Silva made his way to the Octagon in Oakland on Saturday night, Chael Sonnen paced around inside the cage, staring Silva down and beckoning for him to come on inside and get a piece. It was classic pro wrestling-style stuff, and it perfectly complimented Sonnen's entire pre-fight schtick.

That was something I expected from Sonnen on fight night. It was what happened after that really surprised me.

As Silva reminded us several times, talking is easy. Doing it as well and in as consistently entertaining a fashion as Sonnen is a little harder, but it's still nothing compared to going toe-to-toe with the pound-for-pound best in the sport. Sonnen's pre-fight routine seemed like an act, but his performance in the fight proved that even if no one else believed he could back up those words, he never doubted it for a second.

Tags: Anderson Silva, Dustin Hazelett, Jon Fitch, MMA News, Matt Hughes by Ben Fowlkes
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Filed under: UFC

For a man in Mike Dolce's line of work, watching Thiago Alves miss weight by a half-pound before UFC 117 last week wasn't just aggravating, it was downright painful.

"It hurts me," Dolce, an MMA fighter, self-styled nutritionist, and lifestyle guru, told MMA Fighting. "It hurts my soul to see these guys work so hard in the gym their whole damn lives, get to the UFC, the biggest stage for MMA in the world, and have it all go to sh-t the couple days before the weigh-in just because they haven't learned the right information or they're listening to the wrong people."

That's why Dolce wasted no time in getting in contact with Alves' manager with a very simple offer to help "The Pitbull" put these problems behind him once and for all.

Tags: Jon Fitch, MMA News by Ben Fowlkes
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Jon Fitch doesn’t fight with the same electricity as fellow welterweight Georges St. Pierre. He doesn’t have champion Matt Serra’s charisma. Nor does he have Karo Parisyan’s flashy moves.But unlike the rest of the 170-lb. division, he’s on a winning streak that puts the rest to shame.

“The UFC has the deepest 170-lb. division in the world,” said Fitch (15-2, 1 no-contest). If you’re in the UFC and you think you’re at the top of the heap I want to fight you.”

Tags: Jon Fitch, UFC 76 by MMACoverage
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A loss for any fighter is tough to get over, but a fighter’s first career loss may be the hardest obstacle to get past.Diego Sanchez will have this battle ahead of him at UFC 76: Knockout at the Honda Center Saturday night when he steps back into the Octagon to face a gritty Jon Fitch for the first fight since being handed a “1″ to his loss column.

According to Sanchez he has done everything right so far to prepare for what he calls “the most important fight of my career.” How important is it? Sanchez said that the upcoming bout is a must win for him in order to keep his title dreams alive, and in turn, the fight vs. Fitch has made him more determined than ever.

Tags: Diego Sanchez, Jon Fitch by MMACoverage
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This is foreign territory for Jon Fitch.

After five years of toiling through the minor league ranks of mixed martial arts and being relegated to “dark” matches of Ultimate Fighting Championship pay-per-view shows, Fitch is on a main card.

The 29-year-old former Purdue University wrestler will face Diego Sanchez in a featured welterweight bout with title implications at UFC 76, on Saturday in Anaheim, Calif.

“It’s a little weird seeing the posters and the commercials on TV,” said Fitch, who is part of pre-fight hype for the first time. “I get excited to fight in front of big crowds. I’m used to performing in front of nobody, having 15 people in the stands, maybe my parents, some relatives. But, to me, the energy of a big crowd helps.”

Tags: Jon Fitch by MMACoverage
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The light heavyweight bout between Chuck Liddell versus Keith Jardine isn’t the only thing to watch out for at UFC 76: Knockout as the upcoming event also marks the return of Diego “Nightmare” Sanchez.

On Saturday, September 22, Sanchez will step up on the Octagon and come to blows with fellow welterweight contender Jon Fitch at the Honda Center in Anaheim, California.

Sanchez, the 25-year-old winner of The Ultimate Fighter season 1, ended his undefeated run in a fight with Josh Koscheck at UFC 69.  Several weeks after his fight, UFC president Dana White announced that Sanchez was sick on the eve of the bout and almost had to retire with the detection of Hepatitis C.  Eventually, doctors concluded that the initial findings were incorrect and officially diagnosed him with a staph infection.

Tags: Chuck Liddell, Dana White, Diego Sanchez, Jon Fitch, Josh Koscheck, Keith Jardine, The Ultimate Fighter, UFC, UFC 69, UFC 76 by MMACoverage
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