Thiago Alves Talks Weight Issues, Anthony Johnson, UFC Trusting Him, Facing Kampmann

From October 2006 to October 2008 UFC welterweight Thiago Alves established himself as one of the fiercest, most intimidating fighters in the welterweight division. Over those 24 months he won seven fights in a row finishing five of them. In two of those three wins he defeated former champion Matt Hughes and former number one contender Karo Parisyan with a vicious knee to the face. His last victim was future title challenger Josh Koscheck who he chopped down to size with a combination of knees and leg kicks on his way to winning a unanimous decision.

All of that set him up for a co-main event bout against UFC Welterweight Champion Georges St. Pierre at UFC 100 which to this day is the most successful UFC pay-per-view in the history of the company. Alves came to fight and showed a tremendous amount of heart, but at the end of the day he couldn't stop GSP's takedowns and lost a five round unanimous decision in front of over 10,000 raucous mixed martial arts fans and a plethora of media the likes that the UFC had never seen before.

Even with the loss Alves should have been on top of the world. He was only 26-years old and just about to reach his physical prime. Unfortunately a knee injury would delay a much anticipated rematch with Jon Fitch who had defeated Alves in 2006. The fight with Fitch was rescheduled three separate times before the two met at UFC 117 in August of 2010. Alves was forced to deal with ring rust and the task of facing the number two welterweight in the world, but that would be the least of his concerns as he came in overweight for the second time in his career. He lost a lackluster decision and UFC President Dana White was threatening to fire Alves if he didn't make the move to the middleweight division. He was given one more chance to prove he could make 170.

He kept his word and defeated John Howard at UFC 124, but Alves would lose to Rick Story at UFC 130 and was no longer viewed as a contender in the welterweight division. Truly, a far cry from where he was just two years before. Tomorrow night Alves will look to prove his win over little known Papy Abedi at UFC 138 was his first step back towards contention as he faces Martin Kampmann in the main event of UFC on FX 2 in Australia. "Pitbull" is fired up and is very appreciative of the fact that the UFC has given him such a high profile bout. A win here will have people talking about Alves in a positive light again for the first time in two and a half years.

"I feel great, it's been a great training camp," said Alves in an exclusive interview with Fightline. "I've been training really hard and I have the right guys behind me. I'm so excited about fighting and getting back in there. I am very thankful that the UFC has trusted me with this main event spot and it's an honor for me to headline this show in Australia. I've never been down there, but I've heard nothing but good things about the fans and the country."

Kampmann is one of the toughest welterweights the UFC has to offer. He's been through his share of memorable fights and before he defeated Rick Story at UFC 139 in November he was on the wrong end of two highly controversial losses to Jake Shields and Diego Sanchez. "The Hitman" is adept on the ground, but is more known for his striking and that has led to some exciting back and forth battles. They say styles make match-ups and this one has war written all over it.