170 lbs.: UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre (18-2) vs. Thiago Alves (16-3)

Fight Odds:  GSP -290 / +230 Alves Odds at Sportsbook.com

Fight Prediction:  I don’t see Alves being any exception. St. Pierre is too quick and explosive for Alves, or anyone else, to prevent him from getting a fight to the ground. Once the fight hits the mat, it will be all St. Pierre, who will punish Alves with top control and ground and pound en route to a violent TKO victory.

The semi-Main Event is a Welterweight title match between champion Georges “Rush” St. Pierre and top contender Thiago “Pitbull” Alves. St. Pierre has been a dominant force, destroying challengers and cementing himself as a strong P4P #1 contender. Alves has also been on a tear recently, scoring a string of upsets and earning himself the top contender’s spot.

Thiago Alves has the kind of striking that keeps his opponents up at night. His punches, kicks, and especially knees from the clinch are utterly devastating, as Karo Parisyan, Matt Hughes, and a host of other top Welterweights can no doubt attest. Recently, though, the biggest story has been the ridiculous progress his takedown defense has made. He thwarted nearly all of Matt Hughes’ takedown attempts, and completely dominated top wrestler Josh Koscheck, stuffing his shots and making it look really easy. That is going to help tremendously against St. Pierre, who easily has the best wrestling in the division. If Alves can manage to keep this fight standing, he has a lot more than a puncher’s chance.

St. Pierre has extremely underrated standup, but is probably still the less skilled fighter in the standup. He more than makes up for it, though, with athleticism, wrestling, submissions, strength, and cardio. While Alves has the edge standing, St. Pierre has the advantage in pretty much every single other category, including top-level fight experience. Alves’ takedown defense has become formidable, but every single time anyone felt like an opponent could handle St. Pierre’s wrestling, they were proven emphatically wrong.

1.  MMAMoneyLine on July 1st, 2009 12:56 pm

   Alves is going to be St. Pierre’s stiffest test to date because of the size and style matchup. Alves is the only Weltwerweight that is close to St. Pierre’s size.

   Both of these guys made Hughes and Koscheck look pretty bad. I think St. Pierre can take anyone in the division down regardless of their takedown defense. He has shown that against Fitch, Hughes, Penn and Koscheck…a whos who of the wrestling and MMA world.

   St. Pierre wins this fight about 75-80% of the time.

2.  Jay on July 5th, 2009 9:28 pm

   In my humble opinion, Fitch was GSP’s greatest test since the division title win. The “Pitbull” is certainly a terrific MMA fighter BUT, don’t forget, Alves lost against Fitch, I think back in 2007? It certainly goes both ways about fighter’s picking up experience and both have done so. It just seems everytime GSP gets in the ring, he just keeps getting better and better. His wrestling is impecable and he’s proved it with Koscheck, Penn and Serra by taking them down at will!

   It’s gonna be a great fight with, what I think, is gonna be a GSP win! Third round tap out…I say arm bar in the last 30 seconds of the round!

3.  mononker on July 7th, 2009 9:23 am

   This fight will not end in a submission. You will most likely be standing on your toes in the first round watching one of the two fighters getting a serious beating and getting knocked the f out.

4.  NYankeezfan2010 on July 8th, 2009 5:26 pm

   I think that St. Pierre will pull of another win. In my opininion I think St. Pierre deffinatly has the upper hand. His only short fall seems to be in striking power, but his other abilities should make up for this.

5.  jake on July 10th, 2009 6:17 pm

   Thiago da pitbull is goin to TKO st. pierre!!

6.  andrew on July 11th, 2009 4:28 pm

   I think everyone is in for a surprise with Alves. He is definetly going to knock GSP out!

7.  Ms Giggles on July 11th, 2009 7:20 pm

   I think Alves is going to TKO GSP.

8.  Sebb on July 16th, 2009 2:31 pm

   Hahaha