by Derek Bolender, MMAJunkie.com
Thiago Alves had his chance and blew it.
Regardless, there was no shame in losing a unanimous decision at UFC 100 to Georges St-Pierre in his only career title fight. If you’ve been in the 170-pound fray for as long as “Pitbull” has, chances are you’ve lost to the Canadian kingpin, too.
So with St-Pierre currently idle and interim champion Carlos Condit patiently waiting, the rest are free to jockey for position and string together title runs.
Jake Ellenberger and Johny Hendricks may have a 10-mile lead in the marathon, but Alves is at least competing in the race again following his submission win over Papy Abedi at UFC 138.
Alves (19-8 MMA, 11-5 UFC) and fellow contender Martin Kampmann (18-5 MMA, 9-4 UFC) will headline UFC on FX 2, which takes place March 3 at Allphones Arena in Sydney, Australia. Due to the time difference, the event takes place on Saturday afternoon in Australia, and the main card airs live on FX in North America on Friday, March 2.
“I asked for that fight, to be honest with you,” Alves told MMAjunkie.com Radio (www.mmajunkie.com/radio).
“I think it’s going to be a great fight for both of us. We match up pretty well. We kind of got the same skills. It’s going to be a great fight for the fans. At the same time, I want to see who’s the best; who’s the best striker, who’s the best all-around fighter. I’m very excited. I’m training really, really hard. I can’t wait to get in there.”
It’s been a series of ups and downs for Alves following the UFC 100 loss to St-Pierre. He lost a unanimous decision to Jon Fitch at UFC 117, bounced back with a unanimous decision win over John Howard at UFC 124, and then stubbed his toe again when he dropped a unanimous decision to Rick Story at UFC 130.
The win over Abedi in November 2011 continued the alternating pattern. A win over Kampmann would break the mold and continue his upward trajectory.
Once a punchline for fans and pundits due to his failure to make weight before fights, Alves appears to be benefitting quite nicely from his relationship with former “Ultimate Fighter” cast member Mike Dolce and his appropriately titled “Dolce Diet.”
Alves missed weight at UFC 85 and UFC 117. But ever since he hired Dolce prior to UFC 124, he has hit the mark every time.
The pair synched up again prior to the trip “down under.”
“Dolce is like my older brother right now,” Alves said. “I trust Dolce fully with my training camp and with my career. He’s the one taking care of my strength and conditioning and my diet also, so he’s the one who put the whole training camp together. And the way he formats everything, he decides whenever I have to go hard or take it easy. He put the whole thing together.
“Besides that, Dolce is a great human being. He is a great person to be around, great energy. Since we started working together everything has just been great.”
Dolce will go as far as to live with Alves during his training camps to monitor him on a daily basis.
Before Dolce it was rice, beans, pasta, steak, eggs, and sausage on a regular basis for Alves.
“That’s how I was raised,” he said. “That’s how most of the people eat in Brazil. I never really ate vegetables or anything like that.”
Now its Dolce-crafted dishes like “Pitbull pancakes” he consumes.
“I think that’s the main problem with all the diets out there – it doesn’t really taste good,” Alves said. “But not the Dolce Diet. The Dolce Diet, everything tastes amazing. That’s why it’s so easy and it’s so effortless to follow it.”
To combat the time change that comes with flying to Australia, Alves will leave on Feb. 22 to make sure he arrives well ahead of fight night in order to properly acclimate himself to the new continent.
“When I fought in Birmingham (England) last time (at UFC 138) I remember on Wednesday, like Tuesday before the fight waking up at 4 a.m. like, ‘What’s going on?'” Alves said. “I’m fully awake at 4 a.m. trying to get back to sleep.
“You don’t really do much before the fight. You just try to lose your weight and save energy as much as possible, as much as you can, but you definitely have got to try to get on a schedule. And then if you get there first thing in the morning don’t sleep in even if you are dead tired. Try to do whatever you can in your power not to sleep in. It’s going to take you definitely two or three days to get adjusted, but if you do that it’s going to be way easier.”
Alves firmly believes a win over a credible top tier opponent in Kampmann would propel him into the proverbial “mix” and give instant credibility to title run No. 2.
“I truly believe after this fight, if I beat Kampmann, it’s going to be like I never lost to Rick Story,” Alves said. “I think one fight more, and another one, maybe two. I don’t know. But definitely after this fight I’m on my way to fight for the title again.”
“(Jake) Ellenberger got one big victory, but that’s about it. All the other guys there in title contention now, they never really fought the top guys.”
It’s been 31 months since Alves was in the cage fighting for the right to be called a champion.
His pursuit to be the best and to have the belt around his waist is what continues to drive him today.
Dolce may fuel his body, but championship dreams fuel his mind.
“It’s (winning a title) everything for me,” Alves said. “That’s everything I’ve been working for since I got out of Brazil. It’s what I think about every day. It’s how I work. It’s how I take my day. It’s how I live my life, to become a world champion.
“I know it’s just a matter of time.”
For more on UFC on FX 2, stay tuned to the UFC Rumors section of the site.
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