Thiago Alves picked up the first submission victory of his UFC career and his first finish of any type in close to three and a half years with a first round submission of Papy Abedi tonight at UFC 138. Abedi started strong and hung in with Alves standing for the first half of the round, but Alves dropped him with a combination and destroyed him with elbows before sinking in a rear naked choke. The finish came at 3:32 of the first round.

Alves opened up the first with some solid leg and body kicks. Abedi responded with a kick and some solids shots as well. Abedi tied Alves up against the cage and looked for a takedown, but just ate a couple of knees from Alves for the effort. The fighters exchanged powerful kicks. Both fighters were throwing a few bombs, but neither was flinching at all. Alves wobbled Abedi with a two-punch combo, then dropped him with a combination. He immediately jumped to mount and pounded on Papy with elbows, opening up a big cut, but Abedi managed to defend. Finally Abedi gave up his back, and Alves sunk in a choke. Very impressive stuff from Alves

Alves was looking to bust out of a 1-3 slump over his last four fights, including a decision loss to Rick Story in his last bout. He initially weighed in at 172 pounds yesterday, but was able to get down to the contracted weight in time. Abedi came into this fight undefeated, but hadn't competed in over a year. This was his welterweight debut. He was ranked as the # 1 middleweight prospect in the BE scouting report earlier this year.