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After earning his fifth straight victory in the UFC’s welterweight division, American Top Team’s Thiago “Pitbull” Alves (14-3 MMA, 7-2 UFC) is now directly behind No. 1 contender Jon Fitch (17-2 MMA, 8-0 UFC) for a shot at the title.
Alves was informed of his positioning by UFC matchmaker Joe Silva immediately following the 24-year-old Brazilian’s TKO victory over Karo Parisyan (18-5 MMA, 8-3 UFC) at Ultimate Fight Night 13.
Alves discussed his possible title contention, as well as the hotly debated ending of the Parisyan bout, while a guest on Monay’s edition of TAGG Radio (www.taggradio.com), a content partner of MMAjunkie.com (www.mmajunkie.com).
“Right now I heard I’m right behind Jon Fitch,” Alves said. “That’s what Joe Silva told me.”
With Fitch expected to take on the winner of next weekend’s Matt Serra-Georges St. Pierre UFC 83 main event, Alves could potentially sit out briefly and wait on the results of these fights and his pending title shot. Alves, however, would prefer to stay active.
“I know I want to fight,” Alves said. “My manager asked me if I want to wait to see what’s up, and I said, ‘I don’t want to wait, I want to fight.’ Probably I’ll be fighting by June or July.”
By most counts, Alves lost the first round of his bout with Parisyan. But Alves contends that was due, at least partially, to his always-patient strategy.
“I was feeling great,” Alves said. “In the beginning, I always start slow. I don’t start 100 percent. I start to pick up the pace while the fight is going.”
That slow start also had much to due with Alves’ respect for Parisyan.

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