by Dracco on Sat Oct 31, 2009 5:17 pm
Andan valiendo corneta de payaso (ala Vlad) los eventos del UFC
Following an abundance of conflicting information, MMAWeekly.com can confirm that Thiago Alves has withdrawn from his scheduled UFC 107 bout with fellow top contender Jon Fitch.
The news of his withdrawal came early Friday morning from Ariel Helwani at MMA Fanhouse. Attempts to confirm the report brought conflicting information, but there was good reason for that. Alves himself was unsure of his status.
Alves tore a posterior cruciate ligament, one of the four major ligaments that stabilize the knee joint. Not wanting to pass up the opportunity to rematch Fitch, he wanted to try and fight through the injury and remain in the Dec. 12 bout.
The two fought a little over three years ago at UFC Fight Night 5, where Fitch won late in the second round by a TKO stoppage.
Alves’ camp tried to get the bout moved to a later date, but all the fight cards within reason were already booked.
The injury would take at least three to four weeks to heal properly, and with the fight just six weeks away, that would leave Alves virtually no time to prepare for a fighter of Fitch’s caliber.
In the end, cooler heads prevailed and Alves relented, as American Top Team representative Dan Lambert confirmed to MMAWeekly.com that due to the knee injury his fighter would not compete at UFC 107.
Both fighters have come up short in attempts to wrest the UFC welterweight title from current number one ranked welterweight Georges St. Pierre and were looking to their showdown as a springboard back to title contention.
Fitch (19-3) is currently number two in the welterweight division, while Alves (16-6) sits at number four.
Fitch is expected to remain on the Memphis, Tenn., fight card, which features a main event title bout between UFC lightweight champion B.J. Penn and challenger Diego Sanchez, but at the time of publication, it is unclear whom he will face.
"He will Tap" -BJ Penn