Thiago Alves

(Mike Pierce takes Brock Larson for a ride during the "Diaz vs. Guillard" prelims in September. Photo courtesy of Sherdog.)

Poor Jon Fitch. Two weeks ago he was "So excited!" about his rematch with Thiago Alves, which was set up when his original opponent Ricardo Almeida went down with a knee injury. But Alves soon had to pull out for the same reason, and Fitch is now faced with a nightmare scenario for any top contender — a dangerous opponent with little name-value. As reported by MMA Mania, Fitch will now compete at UFC 107 (December 12th, Memphis) against Mike Pierce, a 10-1 up-and-comer who recently scored a major upset over Brock Larson during his Octagon debut at UFC Fight Night 19. Before he joined the UFC, Pierce toiled in regional promotions where he picked up wins over TUF castmembers Mike Dolce, Mark Miller, and Paul Bradley. He's currently riding a six-fight win streak.

Obviously, Fitch should take this one; just as he derailed Paulo Thiago's hype train at UFC 100 after the Brazilian scored a freak upset against Josh Koscheck, Fitch will probably do the same thing to Pierce, who's coming off the biggest win of his career. But once again, it's a fight that doesn't do much to move him towards another shot at the welterweight belt. Unfortunately, when your opponents are struck down with injuries, and you've already had a shot at the champion, and you won't fight Josh Koscheck and Mike Swick because of your camp affiliation, your options tend to be limited.

(It's particularly disappointing because Thiago's face had just returned to normal.)

When it rains, it goddamned pours. The latest big-name UFC fighter to be scratched from an end-of-year card is Thiago Alves, who just went down with a knee injury — most likely a torn posterior cruciate ligament, if you want to get specific. Alves was scheduled to rematch Jon Fitch at UFC 107, and was coming in as a replacement for Ricardo Almeida, who suffered his own knee injury last week. No word yet on how long this will keep Alves sidelined, or if Fitch will be getting a replacement-replacement opponent for the December 12th show in Memphis. Matt Hughes, if there was ever a time to shut AKA's collective mouth, it's now. As it stands, UFC 107's lineup looks like this:

(Fitch vs. Alves, 6/28/06.)

Though we previously eliminated Thiago Alves in our Fitch's-next-opponent guessing game, it turns out that the Pitbull is a strong frontrunner for Ricardo Almeida's replacement. A source close to the UFC told MMA Junkie that Fitch and Alves will meet at UFC 107 (December 12th, Memphis); Alves's original opponent for the event — Paulo Thiago — will be booked in another match.

Alves is obviously a bigger name than Almeida, but Fitch's Twitter enthusiasm still threw us off. Who gets psyched about a rematch with a guy you already beat, unless it's for a title? Reacquaint yourself with Fitch and Alves's UFC Fight Night 5 scrap above, which starts with Alves having to take out his tongue ring, and ends with a TKO victory for Fitch at the end of the second-round thanks to a well-placed upkick.

Photos courtesy of The Las Vegas Sun, UFC.com, Sherdog, and MMA Weekly. Click all for larger images; lots more after the jump.

(Lesnar-Mir provides a chilling preview of Lesnar-Sable later on that same night. Photo courtesy of USA Today.)

It’s time to see who’s up and who’s down after an epic weekend, and the Potato Index’s arbitrary numerical rankings system is here to help.  It’s like the stock market, only dumber.

Brock Lesnar (the fighter) +117
Sure, it was all brute force and not a lot of flashy technique.  And yes, he resembled a schoolyard bully more than a martial artist.  But the fact is Lesnar got the job done, and in convincing fashion.  Now the question is, could he beat someone his own size?

Brock Lesnar (the person) -56
We honestly didn’t think it was possible for Lesnar to hurt his own image so much even in victory.  But disrespecting everyone you can think of, from your opponent to a UFC sponsor, and then ending by suggesting that you might “get on top of” your wife (that really sounds like a satisfying sexual experience for her, BTW) is a good way to go about it.  Press conference apology was a good idea, but way too half-assed to make a dent.