Thiago Alves Guarantees A Finish In His Next Fight

By Evan Stoumbelis
Welterweight Thiago Alves, who is coming off a disappointing submission loss to Martin Kampmann, is guaranteeing a finish in his next fight against Siyar Bahadurzada. The two men are set to fight at UFC 149 on July 21st in Calgary.

Alves had the following to say about facing Siyar instead of Yoshihiro Akiyama, on TapouT radio recently.

“I’m very excited. I think it’s not a better match-up, but that it’s a better fight, because Siyar is coming from a big knockout against Paulo Thiago, and I definitely want to avenge that with a victory for my country, and of course for my camp as well. He has a lot of hype behind him, so I’m very excited to accept this challenge.

I feel like I have the edge in experience, and in the level of competition. The level of competition he was fighting wasn’t the level of the competition that I’m used to fighting. That’s definitely going to come into play with this fight. Also, the skillset comes into play. I think I’m a much better fighter everywhere in the game, and July 21, I’m going to go out there and execute it.”

Alves was, at one point, a dominant force in the welterweight division, winning 7 fights in a row, before going 2-4 in his last 6 fights. With a win over Siyar, Thiago hopes to get back on the road to victory.