Jul-8-2009
Alves Promises a War and a Knockout on Saturday Night
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UFC Ultimate 100 Greatest Fights 8 DVD Set - Blu Ray
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By Martins Denis
What can change do to a human being's life, where instead of walking at a pace you pre-determined for your entire life, you turn and follow something different, changing gears? These changes have been known to come with the possibility of unwanted surprise when a "bad" decision is made or that of a road paved in gold when successful. The latter instance was what happened to Fortaleza, Brazil's Thiago "Pitbull" Alves’ career when he decided to stop competing for Muay Thai championships in order to enter the MMA world. And even though his first attempt to become a mixed martial artist was not successful, as he lost by submission, the Brazilian knockout specialist was never the same after changing the path he was on.
“At the age of 14, I started competing in Muay Thai in my region, Northeast of Brazil, and I wanted to be a World K-1 champion. Then a few years later I got an opportunity to fight in MMA,” he recalls. “I fought against my current teammate, Gleison Tibau, and I was battling him. This was a single round of 10 minutes and it was going well, but with 15 seconds to go he sunk an armbar and beat me.”
After this loss, the current UFC welterweight contender started to think about MMA and it changed his life forever, putting the 25-year old striker in a different state of mind when it came to the fight game.
“I believe the lack of MMA knowledge motivated me to discover more about the sport. When I faced Tibau I did not know anything about the ground game. When he took me down I just grabbed him and whatever,” he said. “I began to think, also, that MMA was more interesting than Muay Thai. I can use my striking, my takedown defense, my ground...it was a more dynamic fight.”
A fight sport with more options than any other, MMA demands more specialized training in order for improvements to be seen. And while a few grapplers have trouble learning striking, the strikers also have problems learning grappling. But for Alves, his transition was better than most.
“The biggest proof I did well was that I fought nine more times in Brazil without defeats. I inserted some ground into my training routine and my coach at that time, Evilasio Feitosa, supported me a lot,” he recalls. “After that, I moved to American Top Team in Florida and started more in-depth training than just sprawling.”
The move from Fortaleza to Florida that Alves talks about happened six years ago, when the Brazilian fighter got an invitation from American Top Team and started a more professional MMA preparation. With a bit more submission grappling in his training routine, Alves ranks himself as a solid ground fighter.
“I am a great submission fighter,” he says. “I like submissions, guillotine and taking the back. When I am on the bottom my intention is to sweep and when I am on the top I try a few submission attempts on the neck. But I believe my pitbull instinct pushes me to land strikes. Only if the opponent left an arm or other part of his body unprotected would I go for a submission; if not I begin to strike.”
At the age of 19, to leave family behind and look to another life in a different country with a different culture is difficult for any young man, especially for Alves, who had never stayed more than two weeks away from his mother.
"This was tough and at the same time was not. To move like I did was difficult, but the wish I had on becoming world champion in MMA pushed me forward." he says. "I only had $70 in my pocket! But I saw my friends in the same situation and we supported each other and we got through this hard time."
From the beginning of his training in one of the best academies in the world - ATT - until his fights in the USA, a short time passed and the Brazilian Pitbull did well with 14 triumphs in 16 matches. He speaks about the beginning:
"I learned how to do well in my fights,” he said. “Mainly in the beginning, I lived here learning about the United States of America and its way of living. Many Brazilians come here to fight and live and they do not adapt well. I did not try to bring Fortaleza's routine to Florida. I think it worked pretty well for the first fights."
The number one contender of the UFC’s welterweight division is now close to what he always pursued, a world title, with one of the best pound for pound fighters in the world, Georges St-Pierre, on the other side of the Octagon on July 11th. The aggressive fighter from the land of Vale Tudo is coming from seven consecutive wins that dispatched doubts and consolidated his name as the biggest challenge for St-Pierre thus far. For Alves, the road to GSP had four key fights, and while he TKO’ed the first three opponents (Chris Lytle, Karo Parisyan, and Matt Hughes) he considers the last - the only one that went to a decision - against Josh Koscheck at UFC 90 as the best.
"I think I was put on the map after my fight against Karo Parysian,” he said. “I believe if he beat me he'd be a challenger. But my last four fights were against top 10 fighters, so this fact pulled me up to the top. And people think that my best performance was against [former 170 pound champion] Matt Hughes, but that fight only made people look for my name. The last one (against Koscheck) people realized I was the real deal and not playing, and that I was a serious contender. I consider the last victory to be the best performance. Kos was the best wrestler in the Octagon and he was not able to take me down. My next fight will make me a solid champion. I am going to knock GSP out, and to take this belt away from me will be rough."
KO, TKO - every outlet Alves has had a chance to talk with he speaks about these outcomes for the meeting he will have with GSP. The way he talks is not close to the brutal fashion he wants to take the UFC welterweight belt, but when he insists on it, you know he is determined to leave GSP knocked out on stage after taking his belt.
"Even if I do not get the KO, I will beat on him the entire match. I do not see any other way for this to go," he declares with certainty. "People say I talk like this because I am nervous, because I am not confident or because I do not have anything to say. No! I respect him, I am not arrogant, I just want what he has and I will take this my way, with a big KO. I am really relaxed and very confident right now." Then Alves reveals a secret weapon he has had during the preparation, "Fabio Holanda, who trained GSP for nearly two years, is here supporting my training and giving me a lot of details about his game; that was a great addition."
Eight months without a fight has left Alves starving for fights, starving to land his strikes and "without any pressure" he says, interrupting and leaving it clear that the world welterweight championship fight will be a war, one he is prepared for while representing two nations, Brazil and USA, against St-Pierre.
"He is good on the ground and on the feet, but I am prepared to fight against two GSPs on the same night," he says. "But I do not care, he needs to be good to be the champion he is. I am going to take this fight, I am going to knock him out and bring this belt to Brazil and the USA.”
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