Fitch and Alves were originally scheduled to lock horns in December, but the Brazilian suffered what was described as a small tear to a posterior cruciate knee ligament and withdrew. Rebooked for UFC 111, the rematch had to again be postponed after Alves’ prefight medical exam revealed a brain irregularity and necessitated a surgical procedure. Fitch defeated Alves by second-round technical knockout at UFC Fight Night 5 in June 2006.
Anchored at the American Kickboxing Academy in San Jose, Calif., Fitch last competed at UFC 111 in March, when he earned a unanimous decision against Ben Saunders. The 32-year-old Fort Wayne, Ind., native has secured 19 wins in his past 20 fights, losing only to reigning UFC welterweight king Georges St. Pierre in that span. Fitch owns other notable victories against former World Extreme Cagefighting title challenger Brock Larson, the world-ranked Paulo Thiago, one-time Sportfight champion Chris Wilson and “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 1 winner Diego Sanchez.
Still only 26, Alves has not appeared in the Octagon since his unanimous decision loss to St. Pierre at UFC 100 last summer. The defeat snapped a seven-fight winning streak for the American Top Team-trained “Pitbull,” one of the division’s most feared stand-up fighters. Wins against former UFC welterweight titleholder Matt Hughes, the world-ranked Josh Koscheck and Karo Parisyan anchor his resume.
A middleweight title fight between embattled champion Anderson Silva and outspoken challenger Chael Sonnen will headline UFC 117, which will also feature a welterweight matchup between Hughes and former King of Pancrase Ricardo Almeida. A lightweight duel pitting Clay Guida against Rafael dos Anjos and a heavyweight showdown between “The Ultimate Fighter” Season 10 winner Roy Nelson and surging contender Junior dos Santos will round out the main card.
Anderson
Silva vs. Chael
Sonnen
Jon
Fitch vs. Thiago
Alves
Clay
Guida vs. Rafael dos
Anjos
Matt
Hughes vs. Ricardo
Almeida
Junior dos
Santos vs. Roy
Nelson
Thiago
Silva vs. Tim
Boetsch
Dustin
Hazelett vs. Rick
Story
Stefan
Struve vs. Christian
Morecraft
Johny
Hendricks vs. Charlie
Brenneman
Ben
Saunders vs. Dennis
Hallman
Rodney
Wallace vs. Stanislav
Nedkov