Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves began his fight
training when he was 14 years old, and made his professional
debut at the age of 18. He beat his 31-year-old
opponent by unanimous decision. He moved to Florida
soon after this fight to train full time at American Top
Team in Florida.
Alves began his MMA career in small
organizations such as Absolute Fighting Championships and
King of the Cage with a 7-1 record. Thiago would make
his UFC debut on his 22nd birthday against Spencer Fisher in
Las Vegas. Alves controlled the majority of the fight
against Fisher. Thiago seemed to be on his way to his
first victory in the UFC when he was caught in a devastating
triangle choke late in the second round. He has since
worked his way to purple belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu.
Thiago would return to the UFC just 6 weeks later and
defeat previously-undefeated Ansar Chalangov by TKO 2
minutes into the first round.
After winning his next
fight against Derrick Noble, Thiago would be scheduled to
fight Jon Fitch in June, 2006. Thiago was dominated
from start to finish and eventually fell victim to a vicious
up-kick late in the second round.
Since the loss to
Fitch, Thiago has won seven straight fights. The most
impressive victory was over Karo Parisyan in April of 2008.
He dismantled Parisyan before knocking him out with a flurry
of punches that started out with a patented Muay Thai knee
to the head. Alves also had a fight against mma legend
Matt Hughes
and dominated Hughes en route to a knockout victory.
One of the only blemishes on Alves's great MMA career is
that he tested positive for a diuretic in 2006 following an
impressive knockout victory over Tony DeSouza. Thiago
was suspended eight months and fined $5,500.
Scheduling fights so close together as Alves often does had
finally caught up to him.
Alves is scheduled to fight
Georges
St. Pierre at UFC 100. St. Pierre is considered
one of the best fighters in the world and tops at 170
lbs.
