(It looks like Thiago will have to wait a few more months before he can resume his Fraggle-bashing training.)

An MMAFighting.com story reveals today that the planned UFC 115 match-up between Thiago Alves and Jon Fitch will likely not take place until UFC 117.

UFC president Dana White told MMA Fighting’s Mike Chiappetta that the promotion was pushing the fight back as a precaution to ensure that "Alves is 1000 percent healthy."

I can’t help but wonder, though, if there is more to this story.


Alves was to return to New York on April 21 to visit with the neurosurgeon who conducted the procedure on the 26-year-old Brazilian to remedy an anomaly in his brain and was to find out that day whether or not he would be cleared for his rematch with Fitch June 12 in Vancouver, BC. Despite the fact that UFC 116 is the next show after the one in Vancouver, the UFC is now intimating that they aren’t looking at bringing him back before 117. No announcement has been made about his medical status, and it kind of seems like the UFC is pushing the date back for Alves’ return in the hopes that he will be cleared to fight by August, giving them a window to find a replacement for Fitch if necessary.

Requests to American Top Team for an update on Thiago’s condition have gone unanswered thus far. ATT head coach Ricardo Liborio told me on the evening of April 21 that he and Thiago appreciate the support of the MMA community in helping them through this trying experience, but would offer no news on whether or not his charge had been given the go ahead to resume training and fighting.