The UFC Hates Paulo Thiago and Loves Thiago Alves
by Kid Nate on Aug 20, 2009 11:05 PM EDT
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Fightlinker reports and discusses:
- Thiago Alves vs. Paulo Thiago is probably happening at UFC 107. I can’t even read that without getting confused. Anyway, Paulo went from beating up guys named Marcone Marcone (really?) to fighting Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, and Thiago Alves in a row. That’s like going from being the governor of the state famous for Ice Road Truckers to running for Vice President of the United States. Yeah, I just compared Paulo Thiago to Sarah Palin. That just happened.
If Paulo Thiago had stuck to the plan and gotten starched by Josh Koscheck he might have gotten an undercard tune up fight as his second fight. If he hadn't gone three rounds with Jon Fitch, the world's #2 welterweight according to the USAT/SBN Consensus MMA Rankings, he might have gotten Chris Lytle or Marcus Davis for his third UFC fight. Instead he's going to get the USAT/SBN Consensus MMA Rankings #3 welterweight in the world, Thiago Alves.
We'll see how that works out for him.
Thiago Alves meanwhile should have control of his own fate and gets a decent tuneup fight against a still-ranked welterweight who is perhaps more credible than formidable. Alves ought to be able to batter Paulo standing and avoid going to the ground and deposit a tune up win in the bank. From there it will be interesting to see how the UFC brass views Alves. Will he have to get past Jon Fitch to get another title shot?
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Erm…
Ice Road Truckers is based in the North West Territories. In ya know… Canada… where Sarah Palin couldn’t get elected to a school council.
Keep firing Assholes!
Romans, be it your duty to rule the nations with imperial sway … to impose the rule of peace, to spare the humbled and crush the proud.
by Ubernoober on Aug 20, 2009 11:08 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
i wrote that little blurb at fightlinker. i checked it out on wikipedia; most of the show is based in canada, but there are a bunch of episodes that take place on alaskan roads. plus, fuck it, i dont do research before i write failed references.
by dropkick101 on Aug 20, 2009 11:18 PM EDT up reply actions
I’m revoking Fightlinker’s Canadian status.
Keep firing Assholes!
Romans, be it your duty to rule the nations with imperial sway … to impose the rule of peace, to spare the humbled and crush the proud.
ryan and jake are canucks. im from NY, so dont hold my laziness against those two.
by dropkick101 on Aug 20, 2009 11:43 PM EDT up reply actions
that’s right. wikipedia is the source for goddamn everything.
by dropkick101 on Aug 20, 2009 11:45 PM EDT up reply actions
As soon as i read about this match up i thought the exact same thing… “The UFC Hates Paulo Thiago”.
Hopefully Alves can get back on track and add to his highlight reel.
However if Paulo Thiago (i figure in this match up it makes sense to use both first and last name to avoid confusion) does in fact lose, it would be mighty unfair to see him get cut after losing to Fitch & Alves.
Thiago vs Alves
Thiago v Alves
Thiago Alves
…
wow!
This is like normal Goku fighting Supersaiyan Goku!
by TyTy on Aug 20, 2009 11:48 PM EDT reply actions 2 recs
duuuuuuuuuuude dragonball referencee sheeeeeeeeeeit
by dropkick101 on Aug 21, 2009 12:03 AM EDT up reply actions
In Brazil…you do not mess with Paulo Thiago. He can kill you.
Batalhão de Operações Policiais Especiais
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
by iiowyn on Aug 21, 2009 12:24 AM EDT reply actions 1 recs
That logo is siiiiiick!! I know everyone seems to hate on skulls. But I’m a big fan of that Dia de los Muertos art style.
Did you read about them?
“Knife In The Skull, BOPE logo and motto”
A man should never waste an opportunity to keep his mouth shut.
i never saw the fitch/paulo fight
was it close, or just fitch unable to finish him off?
can’t imagine paulo will have the striking to hang with alves.
Close in the first. Thiago had Fitch in a Guillotine for about 3 minutes.
After Fitch popped his head free, the rest of the fight was pretty much a grappling match with Fitch always in the dominant position but unable to finish.
Unchokeable.
'He built his whole reputation as a waffle house chef. They’ve been serving him up ham and eggs with a side of canned tomatoes' - Don Frye on Fedor Emelianenko
by Well Read Idiot on Aug 21, 2009 4:29 AM EDT up reply actions
Damn..
I was hoping to see Alves vs. Fitch so he can send Fitch packing so he doesn’t take up any more of my PPV money.
Alves vs. Fitch already happened
and ended with Fitch knocking him senseless with an upkick, and polishing him off with g’n’p.
I just have to wonder why the UFC is giving Paulo Thiago such difficult opponents
Josh Koscheck, Jon Fitch, and now Thiago Alves? After the Serra loss, those three were arguably GSP’s toughest challenges, and that is Paulo Thiago’s first three UFC opponents (a murderer’s row there). At least Paulo Thiago looked pretty good against Fitch, but I doubt that Paulo can hang with Alves’ striking and takedown defense.
just break it down from a matchmaking, marketing perspective. put yourself in joe silva’s shoes. thiago came in and beat a top 10 welterweight who also happened to be a kid that the ufc hype machine had put a lot behind. after that he fought the number 2 welterweight in the world to a decision. what… is he going to get matched up with kyle bradley? no. you put a guy like that up against top competition. paulo is probably happy about it. he has an opportunity to solidify himself as a contender. after beating kos and going to a decision with fitch, he has nothing to gain from fighting a lower level or mid level guy but everything to lose. its simple: this fight makes sense.
Jon Jones is getting better treatment after beating Stephen Bonnar
And after Jones beat Bonnar, he got Jake O’Brien. He isn’t getting thrust into fighting top ten fighters just yet unlike Paulo Thiago.
As far as Paulo Thiago is concerned, he just lost to Fitch, and is now fighting the most recent contender to the Welterweight title. Paulo is, in a way, fighting higher competition after a loss which is a good and bad thing for him. If Paulo loses, then he will have two losses in a row which COULD (I’m not saying it WILL) get him cut from the UFC. I do see what you are saying though because there is definitely a “big risk, big reward” outcome. On the other hand, a loss to Alves after losing to Fitch will just make Paulo’s win over Koscheck just seem like a fluke.
To me, it is a double-edged sword. I just wonder why they are doing this with Paulo Thiago and not anyone else.
Stephan Bonnar isn’t a top 10 guy in that weight class.
Bolts from the Blue // "Game over." - Jamal Williams
Bloody Elbow // "Every normal man must be tempted at times to spit upon his hands, hoist the black flag, and begin slitting throats." - H.L. Mencken
by Richard Wade on Aug 21, 2009 3:08 AM EDT up reply actions
yeah i ge what youre trying to say but the jones and bonnar metaphor fails. the closest comparison would be junior dos santos and, while the ufc hw division has improved drastically as of late, it is still not as deep as the ww roster. on top of that, dos santos’ “gimme fight” (struve) was against a very tough opponent with no name who very well could have beaten him and now he’s fighting cro cop. some might argue that paulo has it better as hes getting bigger opportunities.
Also....
Fighting “the number 2 welterweight (Fitch) in the world to a decision” is really not that big of a deal. Akihiro Gono (Fitch’s last fight before Paulo) went to a decision with him and so did Chris Wilson and Diego Sanchez (split decision). I think that it is safe to say that people (not the hardcores like us on this site) don’t really remember the losers of fights in cases like Fitch vs Paulo Thiago where it was a non-controversial unanimous decision win for Fitch.
My theory...
A lot has been made about the UFC’s WW division having 3 top contenders in the same camp (Swick, Kos, Fitch, AKA) so there is kindof a logjam right below GSP at the top of the division. With Swick and Kampman fighting in Sept, these 4 are the next group of contenders. Fitch, Alves, Kos, Paulo.
Fitch has already fought Alves
Fitch has already fought Paulo
Paulo has already fought Kos and
Kos has already fought Alves
Fitch and Kos wont fight, so this is really the only fight available if they want to keep fighting top tier guys.
Sure you could throw any of them a bone and give them someone on the next tier (Hardy, Hughes, Davis, Serra, etc…) but i see where the UFC is going here. They’re prolly assuming Alves gets the win, then rematchs Fitch. Alves and Fitch are prolly the best 2 WW’s on earth not named GSP, but no one is really calling for a rematch between GSP and either of these two. So after Alves/Paulo, IF both Alves and Fitch have wins ove Paulo, and then they fight, the winner will surely have more basis for a GSP rematch.
There is a problem in the WW division. There is no shortage of talent, its just that GSP has beaten the very best the division has to offer. This route offers a chance to recycle a prevous opponent for GSP without it looking too obvious. I dont think too many folks would complain if Fitch got another crack at the title after beating Gono, Paulo, and Alves since losing a decision beatdown to GSP. And if Alves impresses us against Paulo then redeems himself against Fitch, it’d be hard to argue that Alves wasnt the concensus #2 WW in the world.
I dont think the UFC hates Paulo, I just think he’s weakest of the top tier of WW’s. He may be the odd man out, or he may take this oppertunity and run with it. We will see.
A true MMA fan from the great state of Arkansas.
by MMArazorback on Aug 21, 2009 12:07 PM EDT up reply actions
Curiousity,
Am i the only one who see’s Paulo Thiago’s blackbelt ground game posing a threat to Alves? Alves has a track record of his losses coming by submission and if the fight does hit the mat, i see Alves being submitted pretty easily. Doubtful, but just throwing it out there.
"I will knock your hair black!"- Ken Shamrock to Tito Ortiz
Protection!
I’m sick of non American fighters getting babied when they come to the UFC. Enough is enough.
Joe silva has gone too far here. I feel insulted and so should the rest of you.
'He built his whole reputation as a waffle house chef. They’ve been serving him up ham and eggs with a side of canned tomatoes' - Don Frye on Fedor Emelianenko
by Well Read Idiot on Aug 21, 2009 4:40 AM EDT reply actions
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