UFC 138: 5 Things Thiago Alves Must Do to Get Back in the Title Picture

At one point Thiago Alves was a star in the welterweight division.  He was knocking people out and dominating those he couldn't.  He had problems with making weight, but he was exciting enough that it was ignored.

And then he lost to Georges St-Pierre.

After that he went on a losing streak while still struggling to make weight.  It got to the point where Dana White almost demanded that he move up to 185 pounds.

Instead Alves got his weight problem under control, but he still has lost three of his last four fights.

These are the steps he's going to need to take if he wants to get himself back into title contender status.

Making Weight

Before Alves wins the war in the cage, he needs to win the battle on the scales.

Normally this is just a formality, but for Alves that hasn't been the case.  At UFC 85 he was over four pounds overweight.  At UFC 117 he came in at one-and-a-half pounds over.  He also got popped for taking diuretics at UFC 66.

At the UFC 117 postfight conference it seemed like Dana White had almost had enough of it.

Alves has turned it around and made weight for his last few fights, but it's going to take him making weight every single time for him to warrant a title shot.

Start Winning Consistently

This one is almost as simple as making weight.  Unless he has one dominant performance over a big name, he is going to need to build a streak to make it back to the top of the division.

Not to mention that Alves has had a few losses, two back to back, in his last few fights, thus damaging his image.

He is going to have to start beating everyone the UFC puts in front of him if he wants back in the main event and at the top of the division's best.

He has been given an easy assignment, or as easy as they come in the UFC, against Papy Abedi who only has eight fights and none of them against stiff competition.  If Alves is going to start winning, he needs to start now at UFC 138.

Start Knocking People out Again

At one point Thiago Alves had seven wins in a row.  Two had gone the distance.

There are reasons that Alves got a shot faster then Jon Fitch.  It was because instead of getting decision wins, he was scrambling people's brains.  

His last win before the GSP title fight was his first decision in five fights.  Now, including that fight, he has gone the distance all five times, and three of those were losses.

If Alves wants a title shot, he has to have some more highlight reel finishes to sway his boss and the fans that he is the same fighter he was when he tore through the lightweight division.

Work on His Wrestling

Knocking people out is great, but if Alves doesn't improve another facet of his game it won't mean much.  In three of his last five fights Alves has lost to dominant wrestlers.  Though he had beaten some great wrestlers before recent years, it was before his title fight.

The GSP fight seems to have given wrestlers a blueprint of how to beat Alves, and they have consistently used it to trip up the Brazilian striker's momentum.

If Alves doesn't learn to stop takedowns and learn to sprawl, neither Dana White nor the fans will believe that he can be a credible threat to GSP or any other title holder for that matter.

Show off His Brazilian Jiu-Jitsu

Supposedly, Alves is a brown belt in Brazilian jiu-jitsu, but most fans have never seen it.

In his entire career he has had one submission victory.

This makes sense to some degree as Alves is so much bigger and taller than the other welterweights in the division, that it made sense to keep it standing up.  However, it might be time to start showing it off.

Most BJJ specialists are great off their back, but Alves should only try to use it when he is taken down by a wrestler.  Most of the time he should try using it when he has aggressively started attacking his opponent with his striking and then try to take their back.

This would not only make him a more dangerous, complete fighter, but it would also make other welterweights wary of taking him to the ground.  It would also help convince his boss and the fans that he could present new challenges to Georges St-Pierre if they fought again.

Your Thoughts

Does Alves need to show off anything when he returns to the cage?

Is there anything you felt was left out?

Let your thoughts be known in the comments below.

And as always, thanks for reading.