Thiago Alves to Move Down to Stacked Lightweight Division

Thiago “Pitbull” Alves yesterday confirmed his move down to the UFC lightweight division over social media.

Alves has been a mainstay for the UFC’s welterweight division for over ten years now, defeating the likes of Matt Hughes, Josh Koscheck, Karo Parisyan and Chris Lytle in that time. Almost a century of UFC pay-per-views ago, Pitbull faced off against reigning welterweight champion Georges St-Pierre at UFC 100—losing a unanimous decision to the Canadian and snapping a seven-fight win streak in the process.

Despite that impressive run of victories to set up his aforementioned title shot, one issue that has long dogged the career of Alves was his inability to make the 170lbs weight limit to compete in the welterweight division.

In the space of four fights from 2008 to 2010, Alves failed to make weight twice—the first occurrence was ahead of his London headliner fight against Hughes at UFC 85 and the other in his comeback fight following his loss against St-Pierre, taking on Jon Fitch in 2010.

The latter instance was met with the chagrin of UFC president Dana White, who issued a warning to Alves in his media scrum: “You’ve got to make weight. Otherwise we’ve got to move you up to middleweight.”

At one point in time, any fighter’s perceived inability to make weight was synonymous with Alves and his two publicised failures to do so. While Pitbull hasn’t encountered this issue in six years, the open castigation from White and MMA fans the world over can easily cloud your better judgement even now.

Those two instances have made the news of Alves’ drop down to the 155lbs weight limit surprising. But, any opportunity to add more vicious talent to the ever-entertaining lightweight division should be celebrated. The Brazilian teased the idea to the press last summer. But, with the UFC’s partnership with the United States Anti-Doping Agency—USADA—since coming into force, it appeared Alves’ plans were dead in the water—especially given the ban imposed on intravenous hydration following a weight cut. But, as they say, you should never assume.

Despite his supposed inability to make weight at his former home at 170lbs, Alves was always an undersized welterweight. Since his loss to St-Pierre at UFC 100, he has had a mixed run in the division with a record of 4-4. The last time Pitbull featured in the Octagon, he suffered a second-round TKO loss to former UFC interim welterweight champion Carlos Condit when the ringside doctor put a stop to proceedings in between rounds.

While Alves is only 32-years-old, he does have some miles on the clock at this point in his career. His professional MMA debut aged just 17 back in 2001—losing to fellow Brazlian UFC veteran Gleison Tibau via submission. His all-action fighting has also led to two KO losses and a string of nasty injuries which has left him sidelined for extended period of time.

But, that’s all in the past now. With an optimistic outlook and a new lease of life as a UFC lightweight, here’s hoping Pitbull can make a successful run in his new weightclass and fight among the division’s best.