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Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves vs. Josh Koscheck

by Stan Leung
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October 25th, 2008 8 PM
Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves vs. Josh Koscheck
UFC Betting Pick: Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves

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UFC Welterweight fight: Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves vs. Josh Koscheck

Thiago "The Pitbull" Alves (15-3) has grown into one of the best fighters in recent years and is a legitimate threat to dethroning the UFC welterweight title. Right now he is the most feared fighter in the UFC and many believe he can take out top pound for pound fighter and UFC 170 pound welterweight champion Georges St. Pierre.

For a title shot he must go through the most improved UFC fighter in the Ultimate Fighting Champion over the last 3 years in Josh Koscheck (11-2). Diego Sanchez was supposed to fight Alves at UFC 90 but he suffered an injury while training and has been forced to pull out, so Koscheck has stepped in to fight Thiago Alves. Josh Koscheck was previously scheduled to face Yoshi Yoshida at UFC: Fights for the Troops but is now taking a real risk on such short notice. Koscheck was preparing for a fighter that is totally different from Alves’ styles and he will not be prepared for the October 25 fight in time.

Alves will come into this fight as the bigger and more powerful fighter. He has tons of power in his punches and kicks and if Koscheck stands up with Alves, Koscheck will be knocked out. Koscheck has never fought a striker like Alves and the stand up game is what will be Koscheck’s downfall. Even at Koschecks camp, there is no fighter that can mimic Alves’s furious style of striking at the American Kickboxing Academy. Striking wise this fight is a huge mismatch as Alves will use he bigger body frame and aggressive striking to come out very fast in this fight.

Josh Koscheck has one advantage over Alves and that he is a better wrestler. In 2001, during his Junior season, Koscheck won all 42 of his wrestling matches, and went on to become the NCAA Division I Champion in the 174 lb weight class. He is also a three-time recipient of the PSAC Wrestler of the Year award, and earned the Eastern Wrestling League Achievement Award twice. When is comes to wrestling Koscheck is better but
Does he have the ability to take down the much bigger fighter?  He might but Alves is a black belt in Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu and he does not mind going to the ground. If Koscheck does take Alves to the ground, Alves has not only the better submission skills but has the ability to get out of Koscheck ground and pound game.

Josh Koscheck is a great fighter but one of the most boring fighters in the UFC. He constantly tries for shoot attempts so he can fight ground and pound. His boring style of fights usually lead to a decision which shows that he is not a dominate fighter and fights to survive, not win. Out of his 13 fights 6 have come by decision with going the distance in his fights against Chris Lytle at UFC 86: Jackson vs. Griffin, Diego Sanchez at UFC 69: Shootout, Jeff Joslin, Jonathan Goulet, Dave Menne, Luke Cummo and Georges St Pierre at UFC 74: Respect. By no means are these guys’ bad fighters but the trends shows that Koscheck is not a finisher and he will not be able to stall against such an aggressive fighter in the Alves. In his fight with GSP, Koscheck was able to take St. Pierre down in round one, but was unable to capitalize or repeat the act in the next two rounds. I really don’t see how Koscheck will be able to take Alves down. Alves is a much bigger body and Koscheck will be vary of knees and uppercuts when he tires to shoot in.

Alves is a striker by nature as he started training in Muay Thai when he was 15 and mixed martial arts at 17. If Koscheck tries to shoot in Alves will use his knees. Alves has already beaten top level wrestlers like Matt Hughes and he was able to nullify Hughes wrestling skills will raw power. He was also in full control in his fight with Koscheck’s teammate Jon Fitch before getting TKO’ed. He was pushing around Fitch the entire fight but was caught in the end.

Since that lose, Alves’ fight game has gone to another level with victories over top level fighters like grappler Tony DeSouza at UFC 66 - Liddell vs Ortiz II, judo fighter Kuniyoshi Hironaka at UFC Fight Night 11, well rounded fighter Chris Lytle at UFC 78 – Validation, judo fighter Karo Parisyan at UFC Fight Night 13 and wrestler Matt Hughes at UFC 85 – Bedlam. Alves has fought a wide array of fighting styles and he has won by KO against all his last fights.

Alves trains at one of the best teams in all of mixed martial arts in Coconut Creek Florida at American Top Team Some of his coaches and instructors include Brazilian jiu-jitsu specialist Ricardo Liborio, and 1976 Olympic gold medalist Howard Davis Jr. ATT has some of the best guys in MMA to train with like Gesias 'JZ' Cavalcante, Wilson Gouveia, Thiago Silva, Marcelo Garcia, Jeff 'Snowman' Monson and Luigi Fioravanti. One thing about ATT is that they still hold the Carlson Gracie fighting philosophy of always attacking and being always aggressive.

Bottom Line: I don’t like the odds for Koscheck, especially since he has taken this fight on short notice. Alves has just too much power for Koscheck who will spend the entire fight trying to shoot in. Sports betting wise I would bet heavily on an Alves victory and I would also place a UFC prop bet for this fight to be over by KO in the first round. I know most of Koscheck fights go the distance but I he will not be able to handle Alves’ raw punching power. If this fight goes to the clinch I see Alves landed a number of uppercuts.

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