Georges St-Pierre vs Thiago Alves | UFC 100

Posted on 06. Jul, 2009 by moneybags in MMA Betting Picks, UFC

So the welterweight champion Georges “Rush” St-Pierre has practically cleared out the division except for Thiago Alves who has made a huge run in the UFC since his losses to Jon Fitch and Spencer Fisher. He was on the ropes actually against the second Derick Noble in their fight, but rebounded off the cage and caught Noble with a perfect right straight.

Thiago Alves cuts about 30lbs to make fight weight and it would seem that this was what plagued him in his earlier fights. The weight cut affected his cardio, and carrying around so much muscle made him exhausted. From his more recent fights over the last two years, you can tell he has his weight cut plan down. Alves has started his last 5 fights in crisp fashion and hasn’t let up. Alves has definitely made huge strides in this department.

Georges St Pierre is without a doubt one of the top 3 most dynamic fighters in the world right now. I’ve said it before, Pierre, Silva (Anderson), and Machida; Soon you will be adding Jon Jones to that list as he has more fights under his belt.

Pierre has rarely been seen tired in a fight. The guy is a tremendous athlete. The cardio advantage has to goto Pierre even though Alves has improved in this category.

The Edge for Thiago Alves

• Size – The dude is large.
• Strength – Probably has an edge here too.
• Some would say leg kicks, but St-Pierre has equally good leg kicks, Alves probably throws more damaging ones.

The Edge for Georges St-Pierre

• Speed
• Reaction
• Wrestling – This is big factor. Alves has improved in this department markedly as he has beaten two highly respected wrestlers in Matt Hughes and Josh Koscheck.

The Pick
This is such a big fight because it either means GSP has beaten the best of an ultra stacked division or Thiago Alves emerges as a superstar by beating GSP at his best. What GSP has done so far is more impressive than Anderson Silva’s or Matt Hughes reign because the talent pool that these fighters had to go through is not as competitive as GSP’s list. Not to take anything away from Hughes’ or Silva’s accomplishments. GSP has beaten a better overall group and if he beats Alves it just becomes historical at that point.

As long as Alves doesn’t connect his hands to St-Pierre’s button, I think St Pierre will avoid some of the things that Alves recent opponents fell victim too. St-Pierre is likely to take Alves down and do what he did to BJ Penn. There are a select group of fighters who have proved they can change the fight at anytime with one strike and that fighter is Thiago Alves. However, I think GSP will have a game plan that involves taking TA down and holding him there. Utilizing wrestling to wear Thiago’s cardio down and dropping his elbows which have proven to be extremely under-reported.

I’m picking GSP to win.

Tags: bj penn, cardio, georges rush st pierre, georges st pierre, jon fitch, josh koscheck, machida, matt hughes, thiago alves, UFC, welterweight champion