Pitbull howls. He returns to the UFC in Canada. Photo: Josh Hedges.
Thiago “Pitbull” Alves is suffering back-to-back losses in the octagon. Thus his bout with John Howard this Saturday in a co-main event at UFC 124 is of the utmost importance to him.
Thinking big, with a burning desire to again figure at the top of the division, Pitbull will be looking to fight more strategically this time.
“I learned my lesson a few fights ago: when you’re looking for the knockout, it’s a lot less likely to happen. And when you fight only thinking about scoring points and hurting your opponent, then you start having opportunities. I’m not going to go for the knockout, I’m going to go in there looking to hurt him the whole time,” he is quoted on the UFC website as saying.
Following a rough year, fighting just once, losing, and even having serious health problems, the American Top Team representative hopes to get back to his feet and put in a good showing.
“It’s not how you start, but how you finish. And now I have the opportunity to end the year the way I would like to. So what happened at the start of the year is behind me and now I have a chance to redeem myself and do what I was born to do. I’m going to make it happen and I’m not going to waste my chance this time,” he promises.
Under pressure to move up a weight division, given his difficulty in making welterweight, the fighter guarantees this time things will be different.
“I feel welterweight is my place. I’ve already fought the best guys and I feel I’m stronger than them. If I moved up in weight I’d lose all the advantage I have and, in a sport like this one, you don’t want that to happen,” he says in closing.
Check out the card for the event:
UFC 124
Montreal, Canada
December 11, 2010
Georges St-Pierre vs. Josh Koscheck
Sean McCorkle vs. Stefan Struve
Jim Miller vs. Charles Oliveira
Mac Danzig vs. Joe Stevenson
Thiago Alves vs. John Howard
Mark Bocek vs. Dustin Hazelett
Joe Doerksen vs. Dan Miller
Sean Pierson vs. Matthew Riddle
Jesse Bongfeldt vs. Rafael Natal
Ricardo Almeida vs. T.J. Grant
Pat Audinwood vs. John Makdessi