Thiago Alves: “Welterweight Division, Watch Out, I’m Back”

Now that Thiago Alves is back to his winning ways and making weight, much to the UFC’s delight, he’s hoping to make a run through all of the top welterweight contenders.

Outside of a slight knee injury Alves tweaked during the last couple weeks of training, he’s healthy and has already plotted out some dates for when he hopes to return to action.

“I already talked to Dana (White) and Joe (Silva) and I want to be back by the beginning of April,” Alves said when appearing recently on MMAWeekly Radio. “My next fight I want it to be in UFC Rio on August 27 so if they schedule that, I’ll (fight) beginning of April and then August 27.”

Alves knows that with so many Brazilians in the UFC that’s going to be a tougher ticket to punch, but like fighters from all over the world, he wants the chance to fight at home as well.

“This will be like a dream come true, I can’t even express myself. Being Brazilian, you kind of grew up with MMA developing and all that, and now that we’re going to have a UFC in Brazil after this whole time, it’s pretty cool. That’s why I want to fight there so badly,” Alves said.

“I’m sure everyone who is Brazilian is going to want to fight on this card.”

First, Alves wants to get a fight in April, which could put him on a couple of different cards, including a possible slot on the huge show planned for Toronto late in the month. Directly following his win over John Howard at UFC 124, Alves intimated that he was hoping for a shot at Jake Shields, but he knows that he’ll next fight Georges St-Pierre for the title.

If Shields is out of the picture, Alves just wants to fight the best in the welterweight division and refuses to call anybody out by name. They’re all on his list.

“I just want to fight whoever’s going to bring me closer to the belt again,” Alves stated. “It doesn’t matter who it is. Nothing changed as far as my goals, I want to be the welterweight champion. Whoever’s going to bring me closer, I’m ready for it.”

The only two losses that Alves has endured recently were to St-Pierre and to Jon Fitch, who are ranked No. 1 and No. 2 on the MMAWeekly.com World MMA Rankings. Outside of that, Alves has proven to be one of the fiercest competitors in the welterweight division and whether it’s Carlos Condit, B.J. Penn, Jake Shields or someone else, the entire weight class is officially on notice.

“It doesn’t matter who it is, I’ll be ready for it,” said Alves. “Welterweight division, watch out, I’m back.”