GSP/Alves: The real main event of UFC 100
I know that most of the talk about UFC 100 has been about the big heavyweight title unification fight between Brock Lesnar and Frank Mir. However, the fight that I’m looking forward to the most on this historic card is the welterweight championship fight between Georges St. Pierre and Thiago Alves.
This is a fight between two of the most phenominally gifted athletes in all of MMA, and without a doubt the two best welterweights in the world (Sorry to the fans of Jon Fitch, Jake Shields and Mach Sakurai). I think the reason that this fight hasn’t been talked about as much is the fact that the Lesnar/Mir fight is a rematch from a hotly contested and debated fight and the fact that Lesnar is one of the most popular and polarizing figures in MMA today.
GSP/Alves features two guys who are absolutely huge for their weight class. In fact, both of these guys would have to cut weight just to make the middleweight division. However, they use that size in different ways. GSP has turned himself into one of, if not the best wrestler in the UFC. He absolutely destroyed Josh Koscheck in the wrestling game when they fought at UFC 74, and Koscheck is one of the most decorated amateur wrestlers in the UFC. If anything, GSP has actually improved on that aspect of his game since that Koscheck fight which is a scary thought.
Alves uses his size advantage in his superior striking game. He hits like a truck and has improved on his wrestling and takedown defense a great deal since a loss to Jon Fitch earlier in his UFC career. In addition to his size advantage, his striking is quick and precise and he’s improving his jiu-jitsu game as well.
In the common opponents between the two, GSP is 5-1 with his only loss coming to Matt Hughes, who he later defeated twice. Alves is 3-1 with the aforementioned loss to Fitch early on in his UFC career. Alves is coming off of two decisive victories over Matt Hughes (TKO-Knee) and Josh Koscheck (unanimous decision), while GSP beat Matt Serra to reclaim his welterweight title and has defended it successfully twice over Jon Fitch (unanimous decision) and B.J. Penn (TKO-corner stoppage) in two equally decisive fights. I haven’t decided which direction I’m going in this matchup yet, and I have a feeling it’ll take me until fight week to make a decision. Either way, in my opinion, this is my main event for UFC 100.
>
Popularity: 4% [?]
Related posts:
- UFC 100 Main Card Predictions
- Thiago Alves struggling to make weight for UFC 100 title fight?
- Jon Fitch to take on Thiago Alves at UFC 107
- UFC 100 Recap
- Alves says his weight cutting is ahead of schedule
Filed Under: Event Previews
