Thiago Alves: Fight with Nate Diaz almost happened

Thiago Alves is looking forward to headlining his second event in a row, this time against fellow welterweight Benson Henderson at “UFC Fight Night 79”. The card takes place on November 28, 2015 in South Korea and will be Henderson’s second fight at 170.

Redemption is on Alves’ mind as his last outing in the octagon was one fans will always remember, but also one he would like to forget. Carlos Condit and Alves put on an entertaining fight, but it turned one-sided very quickly and the doctor was forced to wave off the fight as Alves was taking too much punishment.

This fight with Henderson almost never took place, however, as Alves recently told MMA Fighting that he was offered a fight with Nate Diaz. “First, they offered me Nate Diaz in December at 170,” Alves said. “And I told them I wanted to fight at 155 this year or next… Nate didn’t want to fight me or something, they give him alot of options. Joe asked me if I could be one of those guys on that list, and I said sure.

Nate Diaz will now be squaring off with Michael Johnson at “UFC on FOX” in December on a card headlined by Rafael dos Anjos’ first title defense against Donald Cerrone. Henderson will be a great test for Alves as he is hoping to make a run for the lightweight title when he moves to 155.

“They throw me a few options and asked me to fight Ben Henderson at 170. I said sure, Ben is a great name, one of the pound for pound fighters in the world, former lightweight champion, and I am planning on going to 155, so it will be a good introduction into that weight class.”

The Best Training Room You’ll Probably Ever See — D.C., Rockhold, Khabib, Velasquez All Training For UFC Greatness
[ooyala code=”J5c3UxdzpDWlYbuxxRyJVVXCUwnYxE3R” player_id=”bd214e34cfad476984102de4bf5e8da2″ width=”1280″ height=”720″ auto=”true”]

Transcribed by Adam Guillen Jr. of MMA Mania